Tennis fans are quickly realizing that Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner’s vice grip over the sport may not last much longer. Rafael Jodar is here.
The Spaniard teenager began the year as World No. 165. If he beats Brandon Nakashima in the semifinal of Wednesday’s Canadian Open, he’d crack the top 10.
As a result, Jodar will shatter Boris Becker’s longstanding record for the fastest rise to the top 10 in men’s tennis history, doing so in just 140 days. Becker seized the record when he needed 210 days to jump from top 100 to top 10 in 1985.
Becker is rooting for Jodar to break his record.
“Let’s go Rafael Jodar !!!” wrote the German great on X.
For context, Alcaraz needed 336 days to make the top-100 to top-10 leap, while Novak Djokovic (623 days), Rafael Nadal (735 days), Sinner (735 days) and Roger Federer (973 days) needed several years, per BBC Sport.
“Jodar’s exceptionally quick rise has far outstripped those of men’s tennis’ 21st century greats,” wrote Daniel Austin, while highlighting that Jennifer Capriati set the women’s tennis record (203 days) in 1990 when she was only 14.
Rafael Jodar Takes Tennis By Storm
With his win over Arthur Fils in the quarterfinal, Jodar also became the first man born in 2006 or beyond to reach the final four of a ATP-1000 event.
“The win over Fils means Jodar has become the first teenager since Stefanos Tsitsipas in 2018 to reach the last eight in Montreal, and he is the first player born in 2006 or later to make a Masters 1000 semi-final,” added the BBC report.
Tennis Gets a New Shooting Star
It’s worth noting that even if Jodar loses to Nakashima on Wednesday, he’s well on pace to break Becker’s record before the end of the 2026 season. There is no reason to think his heater will stall at the upcoming Cincinnati Masters, setting the stage for a potential breakthrough run at the US Open.
The 19-year-old already flashed superstar upside at the three majors this year, reaching the third round at Wimbledon and the quarterfinal at the French Open. At Melbourne, he won three qualifying matches and broke through into the second round.
The Athletic’s Ava Wallace feels Jodar has the complete skill set to potentially win multiple grand slam titles in the coming years.
“Like many shooting stars, Jodar has the necessary raw materials to make it to the very top,” she wrote. “Like fewer of them, he has anchored his rise by excelling in the parts of tennis that don’t always come easily to prodigies.
“His groundstrokes shred, even if, as a whippet-thin teen, he still needs to throw his entire body behind them. His levering limbs, focused attitude and consistent hitting summon hazy images of Sinner. He is 6 feet 3 inches (191cm), with solid footwork and the sprawling hands of an NBA player.”
While Jodar’s serve isn’t his strongest weapon, he compensates with a dominant return game—much like his Spanish mentor, Rafael Nadal.
“The first serve remains a work in progress; the percentage of points he wins off it (71) is bang on the ATP Tour average. But it’s Jódar’s return, which he hits flat and hard off both wings at improbable angles again and again, that sets him apart.
Jodar will face either Ben Shelton or Learner Tien in the Canadian Open final if he can beat Nakashima on Wednesday night.
Rafael Jodar on Brink of Rewriting Tennis History at Canadian Open