grand slam quarter-final <\/a>at Roland Garros and at Masters 1000 level he has reached a semi-final and two quarter-finals.<\/p>\nWith the exception of the grass-court season, where he struggled with an abdominal strain, J\u00f3dar\u2019s consistency has been astounding for someone who only just arrived at the top level of the sport. He has risen from No 109 to his current ranking of No 11 and he is seventh in the ATP race, a clear candidate for the ATP finals in his first full season as a professional tennis player.<\/p>\n
After reaching his first Masters 1000 semi-final in Montreal just over a week ago, a tournament many viewers thought he would win, the madness continued in Ohio. J\u00f3dar showed his toughness in a spectacular comeback win over Denis Shapovalov in the second round, recovering from 5-1 down late at night to win. Then he laid waste the 22nd seed, Alejandro Tabilo, in round three. It took one of the best performances since his run to the French Open final from Cobolli, the seventh seed, to defeat him.<\/p>\n
At a lanky 6ft 3in, J\u00f3dar is already one of the most devastating shot-makers on the tour, capable of generating immense pace off both wings. Like Jannik Sinner, what separates the Spaniard from the rest of the field is the fact that so much of his pace is a result of his immaculate timing.<\/p>\n
Flavio Cobolli had to be at his best to beat Rafael J\u00f3dar in the fourth round of the Cincinnati Open. Photograph: Jason Whitman\/NurPhoto\/Shutterstock<\/p>\n
His ability to change the direction of the ball off both wings is elite, as is his return of serve. The rest of his game, from his serve to his movement, continues to improve.<\/p>\n
His emergence, however, has led to discussions about more than just his game. J\u00f3dar\u2019s perceived lack of sportsmanship has been a consistent theme throughout his rise. Some took issue with his various medical timeouts in matches, including against Taylor Fritz in their Washington final this month, which have generated ample criticism.<\/p>\n
Then there was the bizarre spectacle of his shoelaces breaking in numerous matches, leading to extended four-minute delays. His treatment of ballkids and volunteers on the court is another matter.<\/p>\n
At Roland Garros, many even believed that J\u00f3dar had pushed a ballgirl to the side as he angrily left the court between sets in his match against Alex Michelson. It turned out to be a trick of the broadcast camera angles, with J\u00f3dar angrily gesticulating with his arms at the same time that the ballgirl stumbled back over sandbags placed on the edge of the court.<\/p>\n
His dramatic win over Shapovalov was as remarkable due to the accompanying drama as the comeback itself, with J\u00f3dar having to pause the match on multiple occasions to change his shoelaces, to the irritation of Shapovalov. Two days later, he returned to the court with a comically large transparent bag filled with about a dozen Adidas shoes.<\/p>\n
At 6ft 3in, Rafael J\u00f3dar can generate immense power. Photograph: Jason Whitman\/NurPhoto\/Shutterstock<\/p>\n
The notion that J\u00f3dar is deliberately breaking his shoelaces to halt his opponents\u2019 momentum is laughable, but his impatience with ballkids and other on-court helpers, most of whom are either children or volunteers, is unimpressive.<\/p>\n
He has already developed the entitled habit of throwing up his arms in disgust whenever a ballkid dares to hand him an ice towel or ball slightly late, a sight that always reflects badly on a player.<\/p>\n
J\u00f3dar is clearly incredibly single-minded, aloof and not always considerate of how his actions may affect others. However, he is also only 19. As he continues his growth as a player, it will be nearly as compelling to see how his character develops.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"As Rafael J\u00f3dar slowly trudged from the court, he could only bring himself to wave at his adoring…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":743514,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[38],"tags":[101,118,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-743513","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tennis","tag-sports","tag-tennis","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/743513","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=743513"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/743513\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/743514"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=743513"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=743513"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=743513"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}