Rafael Jódar

Rafael Jódar started 2026 ranked No. 168 [1]. As of 27 October 2026, his ATP profile gives a career-high of No. 11, reached in August [1]. El Debate gives his birth year as 2006 and his hometown as Leganés, in the Madrid region [4].

A garage at home, then a club in Madrid

Jódar started playing tennis at four, in the garage of his family home [7]. At six he joined the Club de Tenis Chamartín in Madrid. He remembers going to its hard courts with his father, at any hour, just the two of them [7]. Football took up part of his childhood. He played it alongside tennis until he was 11, then chose tennis [7].

In a June 2026 El Español interview, he said his father was his only coach [7].

The 2024 US Open junior title

In 2024 he won the US Open boys' singles at 17, beating Budkov Kjaer in a final decided by a tiebreak in the last set [5] [4]. His junior ranking peaked at No. 4 [5]. He qualified for the 2025 Next Gen ATP Finals [1].

College, then the pro tour

He played college tennis at the University of Virginia, where he was the 2025 ITA National Rookie of the Year and earned All-American honours [5].

He won Challenger titles at Hersonissos, Lincoln and Charlottesville [5]. That made him the third Spanish teenager to win three Challenger titles [5].

Marrakech in April 2026

On 5 April 2026 Jódar won the Grand Prix Hassan II in Marrakech, a clay-court event [6]. He beat Trungelliti 6-3, 6-2 in 69 minutes [6]. Trungelliti was 36 and had come through qualifying. The ATP report calls the age gap between them the fifth-biggest in the Tour's history since 1990 [6].

It was his first ATP Tour title [1]. He was 19 [6]. The ATP report says he was the second man born in 2006 or later to win a Tour title, after João Fonseca [6]. The win lifted him 32 places to a career-high No. 57 [6]. Afterwards he said he had no words to describe the feeling [6].

The ATP profile also says he became the sixth Spanish man to win a tour-level trophy before turning 20 [1].

Australia, Roland Garros and Montreal

At the Australian Open he made his Grand Slam main-draw debut as a qualifier and won his first-round match [5]. His 2026 results on the ATP profile also include a semi-final in Barcelona and a quarter-final in Madrid [5].

At Roland Garros he was the No. 27 seed and reached his first Grand Slam quarter-final [5]. In Montreal he reached an ATP Masters 1000 semi-final, becoming the first man born in 2006 to do so [5].

Washington and the final against Fritz

In August 2026 Jódar beat Tabilo 6-7(6), 6-4, 6-4 in the Washington semi-final, a match that lasted two hours and 23 minutes [2]. He had reached No. 19 after his quarter-final, which was his Top 20 debut [2]. The semi-final took him to No. 15, and to a final against third seed Taylor Fritz [2]. ATP called it the biggest final of his career [2].

He is the third Spanish man to reach the Washington final, after Alex Corretja in 2000 and Alejandro Davidovich Fokina in 2025 [2]. David Ferrer, now Spain's Davis Cup captain [8], said on the Cadena SER programme El Larguero that Jódar reminded him very much of Nadal at 17, and that he was having a magnificent year [10].

Ranking figures

The ATP report placed him at No. 15 after the Washington semi-final [2]. The ATP profile gives No. 11 as his career-high, reached in August 2026 [1]. We found no live ranking for 27 October 2026, so check the ATP site before relying on that figure.

The same profile records his first ATP Masters 1000 final, in Shanghai in 2026. He got there after beating No. 6 Medvedev in the semi-final, which it calls the biggest win of his career [1]. Going into the Chile tie, he was No. 14 in the PIF ATP Rankings [8]. Punto de Break noted in late August that he had played 50 matches that season [3].

Davis Cup debut in Santiago

Jódar made his Davis Cup debut in the play-off tie away to Chile, in Santiago. He was Spain's No. 1 for the tie [8]. In the ATP preview he said things were moving very fast and that he was enjoying it [8].

On 19 September he beat Cristian Garín in straight sets, after Spain had won the opening singles. That put Spain 2-0 up in the tie [9].

Basel 2026

Punto de Break reported in August that Jódar was confirmed for the ATP 500 in Basel [3]. Eight players were registered, and the event was the last tournament of Stan Wawrinka's career [3]. The sources here do not report whether he has played, so this article gives no Basel result.