ATP Tour

Jodar takes on first pro grass event: From World No. 600 to Wimbledon seed

Rafael Jodar has arrived at Wimbledon ready to take the next step in his rapid rise when he makes his professional debut on grass.

The 19-year-old Spaniard, who was ranked outside the world's Top 600 this time last year, will be the 23rd seed on his debut in southwest London after a remarkable ascent. Jodar has fond memories of the All England Club, where he reached the boys' quarter-finals in 2024, but next week he will face a very different challenge.

_{^{Rafael Jodar arrives at the All England Club in Wimbledon. Photo: Clive Brunskill/Getty Images.}}

After capturing three ATP Challenger Tour titles at the back end of 2025, Jodar qualified for the Next Gen ATP Finals, where he won two matches. And since turning professional in December following one year at the University of Virginia, the 6'3" Spaniard has taken his game to another level.

One of the standout moments in his breakthrough season came in Madrid, where he pushed Jannik Sinner in a tight two-set quarter-final. The World No. 1 later wrote "What a player" on the camera lens and praised the teenager's level, but that match was just one of many signs that Jodar belongs among the game's elite.

The Spaniard broke into the Top 100 of the PIF ATP Rankings for the first time in March after reaching the third round at the ATP Masters 1000 event in Miami. In the following tournament in Marrakech — his first tour-level event on clay — Jodar surged to his first ATP Tour title that marked the beginning of a standout stretch on the surface.

Jodar then reached the semi-finals in Barcelona and backed it up with quarter-final runs in Madrid, Rome and Roland Garros, where he defeated four Top 100 opponents en route to the last eight on his tournament debut. With a 19-4 record on clay in 2026, according to the Infosys ATP Win/Loss Index, Jodar trails only Sinner for match victories on the surface this season.

Jodar’s breakthrough campaign began in January at the Australian Open, where he earned his first tour-level win by defeating fellow #NextGenATP star Rei Sakamoto in five sets. Six months later, he sits 15th in the PIF ATP Live Race To Turin, which determines qualification for the season-ending Nitto ATP Finals.

Now, grass presents the latest test. Jodar can draw confidence from his previous success on the surface, having won an ITF junior title in Roehampton and reached the Wimbledon boys' quarter-finals in 2024. With a clinical serve and powerful forehand, the Madrid native believes grass is a surface on which he can thrive.

“I haven’t played much on it, but I think it’s a surface I can do well on,” Jodar told ATP Media in London earlier this month. “I am getting used to it this week with practice.”

One year ago, Jodar was the No. 677 player in the PIF ATP Rankings and had never competed in a tour-level event. Now the Spaniard, World No. 26, is one of the players to watch at this year's Championships.