Rafa Jodar He has quietly reached the third round of Roland Garros, which is his best result in the Grand Slam. At the Australian Open he had remained in the second round. As the days go by, the spotlight begins to point in the direction of the young man from Leganés, who takes refuge from the noise with the only company of his father, with whom he shares a hotel in Porte de Saint Cloud, one kilometer from the slopes.
Jódar did not stop signing autographs and taking photographs at the end of his preparatory session, prior to the duel with the Australian James Duckworth, his victim 6-1, 6-7(5), 6-4 and 7-5. You train like you play. Always serious face and maximum concentration.
The Madrid native is not stopped by anything or anyone. He suffered a slip in the tie break of the second set that left him injured in his left leg.. He had to request the presence of the physiotherapist, but he continued and won like the chosen ones.
The new Rafa of Spanish tennis makes the earth shake with records that improve the beginnings on the surface of Nadal, the best player in history on clay.
After his first 20 games, The Balearic legend had a balance of 13 victories and seven defeats. Worse were the numbers of Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic. The Swiss had an 8-12 and the Serbian, 11-9.
Only behind Roddick
The tennis player from Leganés also leaves behind Jannik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz, the current dominators of the racket sport and who have shared the last nine majors. Carlitos decided in his favor 14 of the first 20 matches on clay compared to Sinner’s 13.
Just Andy Roddickwithin the Open Era, had won the most in its first 20 matches on clay: 18-2. He joins a club with seven other players: Tom Okker (19-1), Ion Tiriac (19-1), Martin Mulligan (18-2), Rafael Osuna (18-2), Manuel Santana (18-2), Ramanathan Krishnan (17-3) and Nicola Pietrangeli (17-3). All of them had the advantage of having played before 1968, the date that marks the beginning of the Open Era.
