Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner have won the last nine major tournaments in men’s tennis dating back to the 2024 Australian Open. But while the rivalry has produced incredible moments such as their epic clash in the 2025 French Open final, Alcaraz is now injured—the two-time defending French Open champion will miss the tournament, which starts this weekend, with a wrist injury. He has already withdrawn from next month’s Wimbledon as well.
Sinner has taken advantage of the vacuum at the top. He is on a 29-match winning streak and is -300 to win his first French Open title, according to Fanatics Sportsbook.
Novak Djokovic is nearing 40. Alexander Zverev can’t win the big one. Daniil Medvedev is struggling to regain his form. Who can prevent men’s tennis’ duopoly from turning into a monopoly until Alcaraz (hopefully) returns sometime this summer?
Enter Rafael Jódar.
The 19-year-old Spaniard has been the breakout star of the clay court season after winning a small tournament in Morocco and making quarterfinal runs at Masters 1000 events in Madrid and Rome.
Jódar’s meteoric ascent is unprecedented. This time in 2025 he was a freshman on the University of Virginia tennis team and ranked 707 in the world. He is now seeded 29 at the French Open and will make his Roland Garros debut on Sunday against American Alexsander Kovacevic; Jódar is -1200 to win the match according to Fanatics Sportsbook.
But what makes Jódar such an intriguing prospect? How does he compare against the greats—not just Alcaraz and Sinner but Federer, Nadal, and Djokovic? And how about his chances in Paris? Here is Everything You Need to Know About Rafael Jódar.
Where is he from?
Jódar (pronounced Hoe-dar) was born on September 17, 2006 in Madrid, Spain. The only child of two teachers, he first picked up the racquet at four years old and started playing in tennis clubs by the age of six. At 12, he stopped playing soccer to focus on tennis.
His big breakthrough occurred in September 2024 when he won the Junior U.S. Open Boys Singles Championship. By this point, Jódar was enrolled at the University of Virginia where he posted a 19-3 record as a freshman and finished the season as the top-ranked player in the ACC. Jódar then found success in 2025 on the ATP Challenger tour—essentially tennis’ minor leagues—going 39-12 with three tournament titles.
Jódar didn’t play any collegiate matches in the fall of 2025. On December 30, 2025 he announced he was forgoing his remaining eligibility and turning pro.
Wait! Is he named after Rafael Nadal?
Though he grew up idolizing the 14-time French Open winner, Jódar is not named after Nadal. His father, grandfather, and great-grandfather are all named “Rafael.”
He first crossed paths with Nadal in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, at the Next Gen ATP Finals, which Jódar attended as a hitting partner, in December 2024.
“We had a conversation for 10, 15 minutes and he congratulated me for the US Open,” Jódar told ATPTour.com. “When I met him and he knew that I won the US Open, that made me realize that he knew about the Spanish players and how they were doing. So he’s very interested in those players and it was great to talk to him.”
How would you describe his game?
Jódar is a 6-foot 3-inch right-hander with a two-handed backhand, whose greatest attribute is his natural power on his forehand, backhand, and on serve. He is aggressive off the ground. Similar to Sinner, Jódar hugs the baseline and looks to move forward and punish short balls. He is also a good mover with nimble footwork for a tall, young player. Jódar’s father is his coach.
Jódar’s Historic Start
Jódar made his ATP Tour debut in November 2025 at the Next Gen ATP Finals, where he failed to make it out of the Round Robin stage. But he has been on a tear since then. Jódar won 17 of his first 25 matches on tour, which is more wins than Federer (who won 11 of his first 25 matches) Djokovic (12 wins), Sinner (12), Alcaraz (14), and Nadal (15) had at that benchmark.
He won a 250 event in Marrakech, Morocco, and then backed that up with a quarterfinal run at his hometown tournament in Madrid, which, in a way, was even more impressive. Jódar notched a 6-3 6-1 beatdown of 8th ranked Alex de Minaur in the Round of 32 and defeated his former UVA teammate and fellow phenom Joao Fonseca 7-6 4-6 6-1 in the Round of 16 before losing in the quarters to Sinner 6-2 7-6. He is 20-9 on the season with over a million dollars in prize money.
What do the experts say?
“Obviously, he’s proved that he's more than ready,” the longtime tennis commentator Patrick McEnroe tells Complex. McEnroe, a former pro ranked 28th in the world, is broadcasting the French Open for TNT Sports. “It looks like he may be the guy who can legitimately challenge the top two. I’m not sure he can do that right now in Paris because he probably has to get a little more strength and maturity. But when you look at his game, he takes the ball on the rise, he’s unbelievably powerful on both wings, great serve, big guy but moves really well, and he seems to have a little bit of the It Factor.”
Can he win the 2026 French Open?
Like McEnroe said, it’s doubtful even though Jódar is tied for the fifth best odds at +2500 to lift the Coupe des Mousquetaires, according to Fanatics Sportsbook.
Best-of-five set matches are a different animal. Jódar will need to go deep into a Grand Slam tournament before he can be labeled a threat or a contender. But at 19, he’s just getting started.
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