{"id":104689,"date":"2026-05-13T07:30:53","date_gmt":"2026-05-13T11:30:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/?p=104689"},"modified":"2026-05-13T03:00:59","modified_gmt":"2026-05-13T07:00:59","slug":"jodar-from-895-to-top-30","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/2026\/05\/13\/jodar-from-895-to-top-30\/","title":{"rendered":"Rafa Jodar: From World No. 895 to Top-30 In Under Eighteen Months"},"content":{"rendered":"

Tennis is a funny old sport. One day, you could be an unknown tennis player, out in the tennis wilderness, doing your best to survive in a fiercely competitive sport, and another day, you could be the next best thing, the golden boy, the one to be watched. And if you’re named Rafa Jodar<\/a>, you’d know exactly what this trajectory feels like, despite scarcely believing it.<\/p>\n

After all, less than 18 months ago, at the start of last year, he was ranked No. 895 in the world, and by the start of this year, he was ranked No. 168.<\/p>\n

Following his stellar exploits over the clay season and in the ongoing Rome Masters, he has now reached at least the quarter-finals in the four events he’s played. In dispatching another much-talked-about youngster in Learner Tien, by the time the new rankings come out on Monday, regardless of what happens from here on, he’d be in the top-30, and we’re not even halfway through the year. He also becomes the first teenager to reach the Rome quarterfinals since Djokovic in 2007.<\/p>\n

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J\u00f3dar will make his top 30 debut and pass Fonseca on Monday to become the highest-ranked teenager in the world.<\/p>\n

He made his top 100 debut less than two months ago.<\/p>\n

Absolutely insane rising. https:\/\/t.co\/ivyFq6fh2h<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 Jos\u00e9 Morgado (@josemorgado) May 12, 2026<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n