Rafa Jódar is a chosen one. He has played in Grand Slam tournaments three times and has always passed the initial screening. In his first official tournament on grass, on court 3 of the All England Club in Wimbledon, the young man from Leganés He gave a good account of the British Felix Gill, the 220th in the ATP ranking, 6-3, 6-3 and 7-5.
Despite being a local tennis player, Gill showed that only the tournament invitation has allowed him to be in the main draw. Jódar had never faced such a poorly ranked rival.
In the entire previous week of training, I had always slipped on the grass. He didn’t do it in his first round because from the first point He was sure that he was better, that he was going to win.
The green carpet suits a tennis player who He has decided in his favor 10 of the 11 matches played on the surface (nine of them in the junior category). In 2024, he lifted the Roehampton trophy and made the U18 Wimbledon quarterfinals.
Gill, at the moment of service.
Rafa is already a player who moves masses. On the field where he played you could see many Spanish flags and caps that helped calm the 24 degree temperatures.
At 19 years and 298 days old andHe is the sixth member of the Navy to pass the initial Wimbledon screening before turning twenty in the Open Era (1968).
They had done it before José Moreno Tallada (1973), Sergi Bruguera (1990), Tommy Robredo (2001), Rafael Nadal (2003 and 2005) and Carlos Alcaraz (2021-22).
The doctor and the communication manager
Jódar’s bench is expanding over time. Rafa senior has been joined in the tournament by the doctor from the Spanish Tennis Federation, who takes care of the tennis player’s abdominal muscles, and Margaux, the communications manager..
Gill could not hold the pace that the Spaniard proposed from the back of the track. Each serve turn was agony for the British. Two breaks of service cost him the first two rounds.
The local team reacted in the third set with their first break in their favor. The joy did not last long because Rafa, who did not neglect to eat bananas during breaksclosed the victory on the fast track, as the greats usually do.
Repeated duel on the horizon
Jódar awaits his compatriot on Wednesday Pablo Carreño, who benefited from the withdrawal of Denis Shapovalov at the conclusion of the second set after hitting the fence.
The Asturian He was already his rival in the round of 16 of the last edition of Roland Garros. The fratricidal duel ensures the presence of a Spaniard in the third round.
