The young man is called Rafael Jodar. He is eleventh in something called the Race. I’m told that with Jannik Sinner’s withdrawal he is only two places away from the ATP Finals, a qualification they call historic.
So they asked him whether he was thinking about it. He answered: “None of those things is on my mind. I’m going to focus on my next match. If I manage it, I’ll be very happy. If I don’t, I’ll still be very happy with my season, because it’s the first one, and I’ll try again next year”.
I’m not criticising. I’m comparing. In Couvin, when a boy entered the parish rice tart contest for the first time, nobody asked him whether he would win. We tasted it, we said it was all right, and we gave him a date for the following year. He came back. The tart was better.
He has done more than that. He is playing the Masters 1000 in Shanghai, a tournament Arthur Fils, Frances Tiafoe, Novak Djokovic and Taylor Fritz have already left. And it is his first season, he says so himself. He answered politely a question you don’t put to someone who is just starting out.
The one holding the microphone will be trying again next year too.
It’s true, we checked: We Love Tennis.
