Last July, Carlos Alcaraz fell in the Wimbledon final to Jannik Sinner. It was a difficult defeat for the Spaniard, who despite his disappointment showed perspective.
“In the last year I've been through different situations that I learned from,” Alcaraz said. “Right now I'm in a position that I've spoken a few times already that, okay, I just accept everything that is coming to me in the way it comes. Like, okay, I just lost a final in a Grand Slam, but I’m just really proud about being in a final.”
His discussion of acceptance caught the attention of Andres Pedroso, the head coach at the University of Virginia. Pedroso sent the video to his team, which included Rafael Jodar, the #NextGenATP Spanish star.
“We believe the best players in the world accept who they are, accept their game styles, they accept their strengths and their weaknesses — especially their weaknesses — and they accept all the circumstances that happen in a match,” Pedroso said. “When you do a really good job of accepting what happens and who you are, you’re going to do the best job of being totally present for the next point.”
Acceptance remains a key pillar of the Virginia programme, and has stuck with Jodar. After qualifying for a major main draw for the first time at the Australian Open, the teen let slip a two-set advantage against fellow 19-year-old Rei Sakamoto in the first round. That did not deter Jodar from finishing the job against his Japanese opponent.
“I just try to give my best, try to give the best level I have that day and as Coach Pedroso would say, I just try to accept all things that come,” Jodar told ATPTour.com after the match. “There are things that you cannot control, but if you have the best mental toughness that day, you can give yourself a chance to win that day.”
Jodar recently turned pro after just one year at UVA, but assistant coach Brian Rasmussen is with him in Australia and he has remained in close contact with Pedroso. Both coaches raved about the 2025 Next Gen ATP Finals competitor's class on and, importantly, off the court.
Jodar, Rafael Nadal and Martin Landaluce at the 2025 Next Gen ATP Finals. Photo: Corinne Dubreuil/ATP Tour
“He’s the most mature 19-year-old you’re going to meet out there. He really knows what he wants and that’s the way he was raised,” Pedroso said. “Just a very simple life, working hard, treating people right, doing the right thing and just an all-around good human being, but totally focused on what he wants to do and his dream is to become a world-class pro.”
The Spaniard came to Virginia as one of the most highly touted recruits in recent memory to the extent that it was unclear if he would simply turn pro. Fresh off the US Open boys’ singles title, Jodar was in a new world in college.
“His transition to the United States was really tough. He’s an only child, he’s lived his whole life in Spain and when he showed up to Virginia, I’m not going to lie, his first couple weeks were tough because it’s just a different environment,” Pedroso recalled. “It’s a different language, you’re studying in English. College tennis is a completely different sport from junior tennis and pro tennis. He was able to assimilate relatively quickly and from the beginning, his first match was a little bit of a shock to him.”
That match came against Connor Thomson of the University of South Carolina, an experienced player who had qualified for the ATP Next Gen Accelerator. With fans screaming in the stands, Jodar was clearly no longer playing junior tennis.
“College tennis is a completely different sport with all the yelling and screaming and it’s just a very hectic environment and Rafa was just a fish out of water,” Pedroso said. “He looked at me a couple times during the match and said, ‘Coach, where am I? This is a different sport’. The best part about him is he ended up losing the match, but we ended up winning and he was so genuinely happy for the team.”
It took almost no time for Jodar to acclimatise. Despite suffering from cramp and struggling with an ankle, he would beat the No. 1 player in the country on the No. 1 team and became one of the best players in college tennis. But what has stood out to those around him is not the tennis player — Jodar’s performance speaks for itself — but how he carries himself.
“Rafa’s father told me that every time he had a big tournament win, when he came back to Madrid, the first thing he had his son do was hit with one of the really young kids at the club,” Pedroso said. “Rafa would go out there, hit balls with him, have fun with the kid or just feed him balls. That’s just a small example of how well he was raised and the type of people the Jodar family are.”
Jodar has wasted no time leaving his mark in 2026. He has won 10 of his first 11 matches, reaching an ATP Challenger final in Canberra and now is in the second round in Melbourne off the back of his thrilling five-set win against Sakamoto. His mental resilience has shone.
“If we just stay in there and do the right things mentally each and every point, their level is eventually come back down and ours is eventually going to raise,” Rasmussen said. “I think what makes Rafa so special is he knows he can do that over the course of four, five hours because he’s proven that to himself time and time again, whether it was back in Madrid with his dad or in his 12 months at UVA.
“He has challenged himself to really check every box and takes care of the small details in his life whether it’s academically, socially or on the tennis court. And I believe when you compound that many little details over the course of 24 hours each and every day, day after day, you’re going to have a lot of confidence that you know you can hang in there.”
A year ago, the teen was barely inside the world’s Top 900, and now he is No. 134 in the PIF ATP Live Rankings. No matter what happens when Jodar plays 16th seed Jakub Mensik Thursday for a place in the third round, it is safe to say the Spaniard will accept the result, learn from it and continue his rapid ascent.
“I just want to enjoy every time that I'm playing tennis,” Jodar said. “That's the first goal when I step on a court. It hasn't changed at all. I just have to keep going and start the season the best way possible.”
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