Being 20 years old comes with a lot of responsibilities, even when you are one of the top tennis players in the world, something that Rafael Jodar has learned in recent days. Fan criticism of the Spaniard’s on-court conduct has increased almost in proportion to his point increase, and things really went off the boil after the World No. 13’s incident with the ball kid at the Shanghai Masters, after which a statement from Jodar could do well to help him be in the good books of the fans.
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“After the match, I thought about it and I shouldn’t have done that to the ball kid,” said Jodar in a press interview after his quarterfinal match against Casper Ruud. “It was my mistake. I was very frustrated because of how the match was going for me. I didn’t mean to hurt the feelings of the ball kid or anything. I’ll try not to do it again because that’s not the right way to treat the ball kids, and I respect a lot their job. I’m not perfect, I’m a human. I make mistakes. So I’ll learn from this mistake to not do it again in the next one.”
While Jodar’s apology comes with the best intentions, the Spaniard has been involved in off-field incidents this season, especially involving ball kids. On this occasion, he was heard talking to a ball kid in a not-so-polite tone during his fourth-round match against Botic Van de Zandschulp in Shanghai.
The match was on a knife’s edge, with Jodar on the ropes, having lost the first set and letting go of break points at the start of the second set. While it is understandable that Jodar was frustrated while talking to the ball kid, the language he used warranted a code violation for unsportsmanlike conduct from chair umpire Jimmy Pinoargote.
The incident in Shanghai is preceded by somewhat similar incidents elsewhere in Jodar’s season. Back at Wimbledon, the Spaniard copped quite a bit of backlash from the fans for not showing gratitude towards a ball kid who had picked up his racket after he fell. His glaring look at the ball kid in Washington during the Citi Open drew scrutiny as well, as the ball kid had accidentally hit the Spaniard with a ball.
The most notable of them all was the incident at the French Open, where it was initially thought that Jodar had pushed a ball girl away, only to be revealed later that the girl had tripped on her own accord while trying to move out of the way. While in Shanghai, Jodar’s statement was one of regret; in Paris, it was a vehement defense of his own actions.
“I didn’t touch her,” said Jodar in the press conference at Roland Garros. “No, no, no. I could never do that.”
Expressing frustration at ball kids is, unfortunately, neither new nor exclusive to Jodar. Back in 2018, in China itself, Jodar’s compatriot, Fernando Verdasco, had quite an angry outburst at a ball kid for handing him a towel slowly during the semifinal of the Shenzhen Open.
Such incidents, which put ball kids at the mercy of players’ tempers and the impending COVID pandemic, led tennis to change the rule, requiring players to go to the towel boxes themselves to use them. However, in the interest of saving time and keeping in line with the short clock on the court, the rule was reverted in 2024.
As for Jodar, while the noise about his off-court activities keeps on rising, the Spaniard’s performance keeps on rising with it as well, with the Spaniard reaching the semifinal of the Shanghai Masters, his second Masters 1000 semifinal of the season.
Rafael Jodar Reaches the Semifinal in Shanghai
Jodar was able to put the skirmish with ball kid aside during his match against Botic Van De Zandschulp, and secure the win against the Dutch player after coming back from being a set down. Against Casper Ruud, the Spaniard did the same once more, showing it is not easy to put away the World No. 13 that easily.
The first set was expertly played by Ruud, who saved all four break points that he faced, while converting one break point against the Jodar serve, which also happened to be the set point, closing the set out at 6-4. However, it was Jodar who got the decisive break in the second set in the ninth game, and was able to serve out the set.
The third set saw both players trade service breaks, but at 5-3, Jodar attacked the Norwegian’s serve once more, breaking him one final time to win the match. This win also saw Jodar move to No. 9 on the live ATP Race Rankings with 2909 points, and given that Jannik Sinner is no longer in the race, the Spaniard could make the cut for Turin if he can hold on to his ranking. He will look to earn more points in Shanghai as he will face either Daniil Medvedev or Tommy Paul in the semifinal.