Rafael Jodar may not thank the Madrid Open tournament organisers for what they did for his latest match.
Jodar is from Madrid and is making waves in his debut appearance at his home Masters 1000 tournament after reaching the fourth round.
At the Madrid Open this year, Jodar has already beaten Alex de Minaur and Joao Fonseca to continue his dramatic climb up the rankings.
However, Jodar’s latest match against Fonseca could cause an issue for the rest of his tournament after finishing gone midnight in Madrid.
Rafael Jodar could be hampered by Madrid Open scheduling
Jodar’s match against Fonseca was highly anticipated, with both teenage sensations expected to achieve big things in the sport.
As a result, the Madrid Open scheduled the match into the second night session match slot, which had a not before time of 9pm.
However, the match before between Elena Rybakina and Qinwen Zheng was not scheduled to begin until 8pm, therefore making it highly unrealistic for Jodar and Fonseca to begin at 9pm.
Rybakina outlasted Zheng in a match that lasted nearly two-and-a-half hours, meaning that Jodar and Fonseca did not play their first point until 10:45pm local time.
Jodar would beat Fonseca 7-6(4), 4-6, 6-1, with the last point of the match taking place past midnight on the Manolo Santana Stadium.
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Although two-week Masters 1000 tournaments now give Jodar the luxury of a day off ahead of his next match, after speaking to the media and doing all the necessary recovery for after a match, it would have been hours later until he actually went to bed.
This could have a hugely detrimental impact on Jodar, who the Madrid Open organisers no doubt want to remain in the tournament for their own benefit.
If the Madrid Open are adamant about having a 9pm slot for the last match of the day then the previous match should be moved to begin at 7pm, rather than 8pm, to avoid this happening again.
Rafael Jodar has a big opportunity to play Jannik Sinner for the first time
Despite the difficulties Jodar has now been presented with ahead of his next match at the Madrid Open, he now has a big opportunity to reach the quarterfinals and potentially face world number one Jannik Sinner for the first time.
Jodar has never reached the fourth round of a Masters 1000 tournament before, but neither has his upcoming opponent in world number 66 Vit Kopriva.
Kopriva is also making his main draw debut at the Madrid Open this year, and has beaten the likes of Andrey Rublev and Arthur Rinderknech to do so, albeit the latter was via retirement.
With that in mind, Jodar will be sensing a huge opportunity to reach the Madrid Open quarterfinals with the crowd fully behind him.
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If Jodar does beat Kopriva, then he would most likely play Sinner in the quarterfinals, who would be his highest ranked ever opponent.
The current highest ranked player Jodar has faced is the world number eight, losing to Taylor Fritz in Delray Beach earlier this year, but beating De Minaur in Madrid.
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