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Not even Rafael Nadal or Carlos Alcaraz managed it. When the new ATP Rankings are published on Monday, Rafael Jodar will become the first player in their history to break into the top 10 in the same season as his first tournament on the main tour.
The 20-year-old Spaniard started 2026 at No. 168. Ten months later, he will be in the top 10, with three big events still to play: the Paris Masters 1000 next week, the ATP Finals if he holds on to his place in the Race, and the Davis Cup Final 8 in Bologna.
The record was sealed on Saturday, without him on court. Taylor Fritz’s defeat to Valentin Vacherot in the Basel semi-finals left the American unable to stay ahead of him. Jodar had lost to the same Vacherot in the second round in Basel, 6-7 (4), 6-2, 6-7 (5), before the Monegasque went on to set up his semi-final against Fritz.
The points that took him to the brink came in Shanghai. He won five matches, four of them in three sets, and beat Casper Ruud and Daniil Medvedev to reach his first Masters 1000 final. Alejandro Davidovich Fokina came back to beat him 1-6, 7-6, 6-4, but the run lifted him back to No. 11.
He held ninth place in the Race to Turin with 3,209 points on Friday evening. With Jannik Sinner out for the rest of the season, that is the last qualifying place for the ATP Finals.
He had been knocking on the door since August. Between Canada and Shanghai, he hovered between No. 11 and No. 14, with a first-round loss at the US Open, a win over Alexander Bublik at the Laver Cup, a Davis Cup win over Cristian Garin in Chile and an early exit in Tokyo.
The jump came in two weeks. His run to the final in Washington, where Fritz beat him 7-6 (2), 6-4, took him from No. 24 to No. 15 on August 3. A week later, his semi-final in Canada, with wins over Lorenzo Musetti, Jiri Lehecka and Arthur Fils, lifted him to No. 11, his career high.
| Tournament | Category | Month | Final outcome |
|---|---|---|---|
| Basel | ATP 500 | October | Second round (l. Vacherot) |
| Shanghai | Masters 1000 | October | Final (l. Davidovich Fokina) |
| Tokyo | ATP 500 | September | First round (l. Vallejo) |
| Laver Cup | Laver Cup | September | Win (d. Bublik) |
| Davis Cup, Chile v Spain | Davis Cup | September | Win (d. Garin) |
| US Open | Grand Slam | August | First round (l. Bu) |
| Cincinnati | Masters 1000 | August | Third round (l. Cobolli) |
| Canada | Masters 1000 | August | Semi-final (l. Nakashima) |
| Washington | ATP 500 | July | Final (l. Fritz) |
| Wimbledon | Grand Slam | June | Third round (l. Mochizuki) |
| Roland-Garros | Grand Slam | May | Quarter-final (l. Zverev) |
| Rome | Masters 1000 | May | Quarter-final (l. Darderi) |
| Madrid | Masters 1000 | April | Quarter-final (l. Sinner) |
| Barcelona | ATP 500 | April | Semi-final (l. Fils) |
| Marrakech | ATP 250 | March-April | Title (d. Trungelliti) |
| Miami | Masters 1000 | March | Third round, from qualifying (l. Etcheverry) |
| Indian Wells | Masters 1000 | March | First round (l. Tabilo) |
| Acapulco | ATP 500 | February | Second round (l. Atmane) |
| Delray Beach | ATP 250 | February | Second round (l. Fritz) |
| Dallas | ATP 500 | February | First round, from qualifying (l. Shapovalov) |
| Australian Open | Grand Slam | January | Second round, from qualifying (l. Mensik) |
| Canberra | Challenger | January | Final (l. Blockx) |
Before the summer, there was a third-round run at Wimbledon. Before that, the clay, where he climbed 60 places in seven weeks.
His quarter-final in Rome took him into the top 30, at No. 29, on May 18. He had also reached the quarter-finals in Madrid, beating Alex de Minaur 6-3, 6-1 and Joao Fonseca before losing to Sinner. At Roland-Garros, he then survived five-setters against Alex Michelsen and Pablo Carreno Busta to reach another quarter-final, where Alexander Zverev beat him in straight sets.
The top 50 came a month earlier. His first ATP title in Marrakech, won 6-3, 6-2 against Marco Trungelliti in the final, lifted him to No. 57. His semi-final in Barcelona a fortnight later took him to No. 42 on April 20.
The first threshold fell on March 30. He came through qualifying in Miami to reach the third round, and moved from No. 109 to No. 89.
Until then, his season had been built on qualifying. He opened it in January by reaching the final of the Canberra Challenger from qualifying, then came through qualifying again to win his first Grand Slam match at the Australian Open.
The ATP website listed his season at 43-17 before Basel, with one title and $3,255,786 in prize money. Ten months after Canberra, No. 168 is a top-10 player.
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