Spanish tennis continues to produce talent, at a stage where the explosion of Carlos Alcaraz continues to impress sports fans. Rafa Jodar He is the latest product of the inexhaustible Spanish career and at 17 years old he was proclaimed last Saturday US Open Champion Junior, beating the number one in the category in the final, Nikolai Budkov Kjaerby 2-6, 6-2 and 7-6(1). Now Jodarborn in Leganes (Madrid), faces a very important decision, related to his leap to professionalism or to park his project among the best to choose to enroll in a university of prestige in USA.
The new Rafa Tennis has a great future ahead of it, even if it has to go through stages. Your next path goes through two options, one of them, that of NCAA –university competition in the United States– which practically assures him a future beyond tennis, but which could harm him in a jump to the professionals on which many count, so that Jódar can be, with the Alcaraz, Davidovitch either Martin Landaluceone of the reference tennis players of the Spanish Navy in the years to come.
Measuring 1.90 meters and with a very complete game on all surfaces, the Madrid tennis player, who is competing for the title Chamartín Tennis Club and trains between Madrid and Barcelona, usually with his father as his head coach, caught the attention of the University of Virginiaone of the main ones in terms of university tennis, and has a proposal on the table that is proposed, and to which he will have to give an answer before the end of the year. If he accepts to enter the university in the United States, he will have to postpone his jump to professionalism.
The American offer to Rafa Jódar
He change of rules competitions university students In USA have recently given way to a new stage, in which athletes, true protagonists of a spectacle that arouses great expectations in the North American country, can now benefit economically from their talent. In universities such as Virginiaquantities of approximately $3,500 per monthwhich offers security that goes beyond the studies and training of children. In addition, they regularly participate in competitions, although combining sport at these levels and studies causes in some cases a slowdown in activity, in this case tennis, which can be fatal in sport.
The decision of Rafa Jodar will be the key to the future of tennis in Spainalthough it is worth remembering that the rise to professional tennis is slow and, sometimes, not as prolific as the results among juniors indicate. Without going any further, Dani Rincón and Martin Landaluce were proclaimed champions of US Open Juniors in 2021 and 2022 respectively, and are not yet among the top 200 tennis players in the world.
Spain’s Sparring in Davis Cup
After winning on Saturday US Open Juniorsthe next commitment of Rafa Jodar involves registering for Spanish Davis Cup Teamas a sparring partner of Alcaraz, Bautista or Carreño. This experience will be very enriching for a player who will work these days with his idols after having achieved his greatest feat in the pre-professional category.
