Former junior champion set for his main draw debut at hard-court major

Rafael Jodar is back where everything began to change for him. Two years after winning the US Open Junior title, the Spaniard is in New York again to play in the main draw for the first time. However, the player who lifted that trophy bears almost no resemblance to the one who has just arrived at Flushing Meadows.

Not in the space he occupies. Not in the opponents he faces each week. And, above all, not in the way he plays tennis.

Jodar has taken very little time to cover an enormous distance. In just a few months, the 19-year-old has gone from tournament debuts to becoming a regular in the latter rounds, racking up matches against some of the best players in the world and developing at a pace that is even beginning to surprise his peers.

“I think playing so many matches at tournaments has helped me a lot to get into a strong competitive rhythm and to play against different types of players,” Jodar said.

Competition has perhaps been the great accelerator in a season that has put the young Spaniard in a place that was hard to imagine when the year began. Each week has not only allowed him to pick up more wins. It has also forced him to solve new problems.

“In the end, when you’re playing so many matches and you’re competing, you have to stay very alert and improve a lot of things,” the Spaniard said.

That evolution is even more evident when you look at the place he is now returning to. New York witnessed one of the most important moments of Jodar’s formative years. It was here that he won the US Open Junior title two years ago. It was here that he discovered, over the course of a week, what it is like to experience a Grand Slam tournament from the inside.

And it is here that he now returns, having definitively left that version of himself behind.

“It’s a week I have very good memories of,” Jodar recalled. “It was a week in which I was able to play a lot of matches, where I was able to develop a great deal as a player at a Grand Slam here in New York, and I’m very happy to be back.”

Certain places serve as markers of time. Such is Flushing Meadows to Jodar. The player who returned to the United States this year is living in a completely different world. Training sessions are against the very best. So are the matches. What only a few months ago might have seemed extraordinary has gradually become his routine.

And Jodar believes that this is exactly one of the reasons behind his growth.

“Playing against the best players in the world every week, even practising with them, makes your level improve a great deal,” Jodar admitted. “If you can keep up the pace and be there every week, physically and mentally, you also improve a lot,” he added.

This final detail is especially important ahead of the US Open.

Jodar has spent many months accumulating tournaments and matches. His schedule has changed at the same pace as his ranking, and the results have opened doors that, at the start of the season, still seemed a long way off. They have also brought with them a new demand: competing week in and week out, which means barely switching off tournament mode. He is beginning to feel it.

“In the end, when you play so many matches and so many weeks, you are always thinking and in tournament mode in your head,” Jodar said.

This is the other side of such rapid progression. Jodar is experiencing many firsts, but he barely has any time to stop and take them in. He finishes a tournament, recovers, travels to the next one and competes again. The calendar does not wait for a player to fully grasp how much his situation has changed. Thus, an important part of his learning curve is taking place away from the cameras.

“I’m doing a lot of good work off the court when matches are over,” Jodar shared. “It’s important to recover well and prepare for the next match. Normally, you have a day’s rest between one match and the next, which I think helps a lot.”

The wear and tear is real, but so is the best possible consequence of that wear and tear.

“If I play a lot of matches, it’s a good sign,” Jodar said. “Because I’m going deep in tournaments. At the moment, I’m really match sharp, which I think is very good for a player as young as I am.”

Jodar will certainly not lack sharpness when he plays his first match in New York. The conditions, however, require a new adjustment. After competing in the North American swing, Jodar has noticed differences at Flushing Meadows from the courts he has been playing on.

“This week of preparation is proving very useful in helping me adapt in the best possible way to these conditions,” Jodar added. “I think conditions are a bit different from what we were playing in in Cincinnati and Canada.”

Another new experience. Another adjustment. At this stage of the season, it is a dynamic that is beginning to feel familiar.

The Spaniard has spent much of 2026 turning up on unfamiliar turf and trying to learn quickly enough to compete there. New York will be no different, even though the venue is already part of his story. Because winning here as a junior and competing in the professional US Open are two completely different experiences.

“Openers are always difficult because you’ve never played a match here before,” Jodar said. “Especially in my first year, I’m going to try to do as well as possible, knowing that it’s very difficult and that every match is going to be a battle.”

Battle. It is a fitting word.

Jodar has already discovered during the season how many different situations a long match can contain. At a Grand Slam tournament, with best-of-five-set matches, the ability to handle changes becomes even more important.

“Here at the Grand Slams, the matches are very long and there’s a lot of time for there to be many ups and downs during a match,” Jodar said.

Perhaps this is why he chooses not to look too far ahead.

Such is his progression this season that goals that seemed unthinkable a few months ago are starting to be mentioned alongside his name. His position in the PIF ATP Race To Turin even allows for significant scenarios to be discussed for the final part of the year.

Jodar knows about them. But he does not want them to be constantly on his mind.

“What I’m focused on is the first match,” Jodar admitted. “If I don’t do things well in the first match, my journey here in New York will probably be over.”

This is not false modesty. It is, to a large extent, the way he has tried to manage a year in which expectations have had to be updated constantly. Every significant result has raised the next bar a little higher, but Jodar continues to remind himself that almost everything is still new.

Much of what remains of the season will be new too.

“I know there are six or seven tournaments left and I’m going to try to do as well as possible in each tournament,” Jodar shared. “But we have to remember that those tournaments are new to me, that I don’t know them, that the conditions will be different, and that the type of tournament will be new to me.”

The possibility of achieving one of the major goals at the end of the season is there. It certainly was not in the original plans, but now, there it is: reaching the Nitto ATP Finals in Turin.

“At the start of the year, if they’d told me I’d be in this position, I’d probably have been very happy,” Jodar admitted. “I know the season is going well, that I’m improving a lot and, in the end, it’s a learning process,” Jodar said. “As it’s my first year, there’s still a long way to go. If it’s not this year, I’ll try to achieve it in the coming years.”

Process. The word explains quite well where Jodar finds himself right now.

Because rankings can move much faster than experience. Results can place a player among the best before he has experienced all the tournaments, surfaces and situations that form part of a full season on Tour, and the Spaniard is currently travelling that road. And people are starting to notice.

During Fan Week in New York, he has found fans watching his practice sessions, approaching him and recognising a progression that, just a year ago, was still taking place away from the spotlight of the big venues.

“There are a lot of people who know quite a bit about tennis,” Jodar said. “They come to watch practice, they appreciate you a lot, they always treat you with a great deal of affection and respect.

“I’m happy that people appreciate the work I’m doing this season and the progress I’ve made from the start of the year to this point in the season.”

Two years on, New York is meeting Jodar all over again.

Editor's note: This story was translated from ATPTour.com/es