ATP Tour

How Landaluce & Jodar are leading another Spanish boom

It has been nearly two decades since Spain has had three players aged 21 or under in the main draw of a major.

This year’s Roland Garros welcomed a trio of young Spaniards who have been making headlines this season: Rafael Jodar, Martin Landaluce and Daniel Merida.

#NextGenATP players Jodar and Landaluce have advanced to the third round in Paris, moving them in position to each hit a career-high in the PIF ATP Rankings. Jodar is the No. 28 player in the PIF ATP Live Rankings while Landaluce is No. 59.

Both born in 2006, Jodar and Landaluce are first and third, respectively, in the PIF ATP Live Next Gen Race.

“It benefits them,” said Landaluce’s coach Oscar Burrieza, speaking with ATPTour.com. “It's good that they push each other, it spurs you on a bit, you see yourself as capable. They train together, they know their levels are similar...

"Rafa [Jodar] is doing incredibly, it's wonderful. Dani [Merida] has also had a fantastic year and Martin [Landaluce] has now made the leap. It's very positive for Spanish tennis, we have to enjoy it, try to make it last, and ensure those coming up take advantage of this boom too.”

In the case of Landaluce, or 'Tintin' as those close to him call him, he started 2026 on the verge of the Top 150 and has since progressed at an impressive pace. He reached the quarter-finals at the ATP Masters 1000 tournaments in Miami and Rome and has now made his Roland Garros main-draw debut with wins against Juan Carlos Prado Angelo and Vit Kopriva.

At last year’s Australian Open, Landaluce enjoyed his first experience in the main draw of a major, but after advancing through qualifying in Melbourne, he fell to home hope James McCabe in three sets.

“It's one of his first times playing five sets in a main draw,” Burrieza assessed. “This time we simply tried to go out from the start and do our best, without thinking too far ahead and it turned out to be a very long match, full of ups and downs and very hot. On and off court it was tough, but he enjoyed it and took it in his stride, because it'll be the first of many.”

Burrieza points to Landaluce’s ability to keep his feet on the ground as he progresses through the ranks.

“That ease with which he has handled his victories is a good quality. Nothing much has changed,” said Burrieza. “In that sense, Martin is very steady day to day and for someone who’s more passionate like me, that's surprising.”

For Burrieza, everything changed following the qualifying rounds of the ATP Masters 1000 in Miami, where Landaluce beat Mackenzie McDonald and rallied past Thiago Agustin Tirante.

“That was the turning point. We came in feeling positive, but we'd lost two big matches in previous weeks,” said Burrieza. “Winning that match made us believe that the week could bring a good reward.”

Landaluce’s momentum continued. He notched four main-draw wins in Miami, including two Top 20 wins: Marcos Giron (No. 70), Luciano Darderi (No. 18), Karen Khachanov (No. 15), and Sebastian Korda (No. 36). Landaluce reached the quarter-finals in south Florida, only falling to eventual finalist Jiri Lehecka.

“He handled beating players at that level as if it were normal,” said Burrieza. “With Martin, you often feel like every day is similar, whether it's a small tournament or a big one, a qualifier or a seeded player, though obviously, he's human and gets nervous like everyone else.”

Those nerves, entirely normal for a young player experiencing new milestones on the sport's biggest stages, have surfaced at Roland Garros. “In the first round of Roland Garros, it's obvious there were nerves, because it was hard to close out the match, but that's normal,” said Burrieza.

Entering this week, Landaluce had not played a five-set match. Now, the 20-year-old has won back-to-back five-setters. He rallied from two sets to love down to overcome Kopriva 1-6, 2-6, 6-4, 7-5, 6-0 on Thursday.

“We're very happy to keep this momentum going, to keep learning, because there's a long way to go,” said Burrieza. “But [we are] also aiming for more wins to improve his ranking, which is certainly important for him too.”

A potential third-round meeting with top seed Jannik Sinner loomed when Thursday began, but Landaluce will instead face Argentine Juan Manuel Cerundolo, who outlasted the World No. 1 in a dramatic five-set upset.

Editor's Note: This story was translated from ATPTour.com/es.