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Remove items from your saved list<\/a> to add more.<\/p>\n AAA<\/p>\n Tennis players typically sign their initials or write motivational quotes, personal jokes or smiley faces on the camera lens after matches.<\/p>\n World No.1 Jannik Sinner took a different path after his Madrid Masters quarter-final last month. The Italian superstar is on a historic run \u2013 becoming the first player to win five Masters titles in a row \u2013 and is routinely dispatching hapless opponents.<\/p>\n Sinner also won on this occasion, but acknowledged it was different. \u201cWhat a player,\u201d he wrote, after surviving Spain\u2019s new teenage sensation, Rafael Jodar.<\/p>\n The note qualified as Sinner\u2019s stamp of approval, even if he was reluctant to earmark him as part of a potential new \u201cBig Four\u201d, alongside him, Carlos Alcaraz and Joao Fonseca, the fellow prodigy whom Jodar outlasted in three sets in the same Madrid tournament.<\/p>\n Just as eye-catching was Jodar\u2019s 6-3, 6-1 claycourt demolition of Australia\u2019s top-10 star Alex de Minaur in the previous round. The new \u201cRafa\u201d, who idolised 22-time grand slam champion Rafael Nadal, is legit.<\/p>\n Editor’s pick It was only in December last year that Jodar announced he was leaving the University of Virginia and the college tennis scene to turn professional.<\/p>\n \u201c[He is] playing some incredible tennis,\u201d Sinner said<\/a> after beating Jodar 6-2, 7-6 (7-0) in Madrid, including saving seven break points.<\/p>\n \u201cI cannot predict the future. What I always believe is they\u2019re all incredible talents. Being an athlete, you always have a lot of pressure. My advice is always to keep the pressure as much as possible away from the present, even though I know there is always going to be a lot of talk off the court.\u201d<\/p>\n The 191-centimetre kid from Madrid, still only 19, clocked a 175km\/h forehand winner<\/a> against Sinner in a demonstration of his raw power and audacious shot-making. He boasts a 200km\/h-plus first serve, and is equally proficient on both wings.<\/p>\n The universal gushing is unavoidable when a phenom such as Jodar (HO-dar, with the \u201cJ\u201d pronounced in Spanish like \u201cH\u201d in \u201chot\u201d) achieves what he has in the past two months.<\/p>\n He qualified and won a round at this year\u2019s Australian Open \u2013 his self-professed favourite tournament \u2013 and started March outside the top 100. But he will be seeded at Roland Garros \u2013 where Nadal won the singles crown 14 times \u2013 when the tournament begins on May 24 (AEST).<\/p>\n With Alcaraz\u2019s wrist injury preventing him from defending his Paris title, only veteran Alejandro Davidovich-Fokina will be ranked higher than Jodar among Spaniards competing in the French capital.<\/p>\n Jodar\u2019s rocket-ship rise included qualifying and making the round of 32 at the Miami Masters, winning the Marrakech ATP 250 title, reaching the semi-finals at ATP 500 level in Barcelona, and advancing to the quarter-finals at his home city event, the Madrid Masters.<\/p>\n Related Article He rounded out his Roland Garros preparation this week by reaching the quarter-finals at the Rome Masters.<\/p>\n Jodar is already fielding questions about his budding rivalry with Fonseca, who told this masthead<\/a> in Brisbane in January that the young Spaniard had \u201cgreat potential\u201d. Jodar echoed those sentiments about the Brazilian.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m sure he\u2019s going to be doing great things,\u201d Jodar said. \u201cHe\u2019s a very young player, a great player, so I wish him the best of luck for the rest of the season and for his career.\u201d<\/p>\n Sinner is the hottest of favourites to win this year\u2019s Roland Garros championship in Alcaraz\u2019s absence, and complete his grand slam set, but Jodar and Fonseca are just two of the young stars dreaming of dethroning him at the top of the sport.<\/p>\n There are 11 men aged 21 or younger inside the world\u2019s top 100, including Australian Open quarter-finalist Learner Tien, last year\u2019s Miami Masters champion Jakub Mensik, Madrid semi-finalist Alexander Blockx and Novak Djokovic-conquering Croat Dino Przmic.<\/p>\n Jodar dropped only five games sweeping past Tien in Rome.<\/p>\n Two more Spaniards, former junior world No.1 and fellow Rome quarter-finalist Martin Landaluce and Daniel Merida, are also in that territory \u2013 but Jodar has sped past both to become the country\u2019s next great hope, even with Alcaraz only 22 years old himself.<\/p>\n Alcaraz offered his congratulations on social media after Jodar\u2019s Madrid heroics, writing \u201cEspectacular torneo!\u201d (you can guess what that translates to), while Nadal\u2019s uncle and ex-coach, Toni, has labelled him the best player of this new generation.<\/p>\n \u201cHis progression has been lightning fast in a very short period of time,\u201d Toni Nadal told El Pais<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n \u201cI believe that, in a few years \u2013 and I will almost certainly be wrong, and it will only be months \u2013 Rafa will become one of the best tennis players in the world, a serious candidate to complicate the lives of the best players of the moment and to fight to lift the most important trophies.\u201d<\/p>\n German great Boris Becker also added his praise, posting on X that Spain was lucky to have \u201canother diamond in [their] arsenal\u201d.<\/p>\n Related Article Something else that caught Sinner\u2019s eye about Jodar was his minimalist entourage, with his father and coach Rafael Jodar snr \u2013 a physical education teacher who didn\u2019t play the sport \u2013 often the only person in his player box.<\/p>\n But this is far from another cautionary tale among tennis\u2019 notorious parent crew.<\/p>\n \u201cHe has a great family behind him. The father seems very, very humble,\u201d Sinner said. \u201cHe has a small bubble, which is great for him. I think he\u2019s going to make some incredible results in the future.\u201d<\/p>\n News, results and expert analysis from the weekend of sport are sent every Monday. Sign up for our Sport newsletter<\/a>.<\/p>\n Save<\/p>\n You have reached your maximum number of saved items.<\/p>\n![\"Rafael](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/5658daa7f7f111d566758f11ba9c15840ddfc831.jpeg\")
Rafael Jodar (right) has world No.1 Jannik Sinner\u2019s stamp of approval.Getty Images<\/p>\n![\"Joao](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/b78cc02d18f9b521e6ca930d6cf8799dd14ed5d2.jpeg\")
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Jodar has stormed into the top 40 with a barnstorming claycourt season.Getty Images<\/p>\n![\"Aryna](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/1778897235_236_d80b4fb77f3b5ddf2060a7f97d080146941082fb.jpeg\")
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American Learner Tien is one of the rising stars in tennis.Getty Images<\/p>\n![\"Saudi](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/1777854314_469_0ef5b9e62643af61130c1bd1b0e6aca195cb297c28670ec7bd12a8180f8e098e.jpeg\")
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