Tennis News: The 2026 season was the moment when Rafael Jodar emerged on the main tennis stage, but at the US Open he suffered one of the most crushing defeats in his career to date after facing a lucky loser.
The Spanish tennis player has experienced a very rapid rise in rankings since January, after he shot from outside the top 150 in the world to ranked 13th in the world. He even reached number 11 in the world. During that period, he won the first ATP tournament title of his career in Marrakesh, Morocco, reached the quarterfinals or better in three consecutive Masters 1000 tournaments, and reached the quarterfinals of the French Open.
When he took to the court in New York for the first round — which was delayed due to bad weather — the world number 43 lost badly with a score of 6-2, 6-1, 6-1 to the Chinese national, Buyunchaokete.
The Spanish opponent is a tennis player who competed in the US Open with the status of a lucky loser and had never won a single Grand Slam match in his entire career before this week. The Spanish tennis player made 37 unforced errors, more than the 15 winners he created, and only won less than a third of the points on his second serve.
“He played better than me and that’s the reason why he won,” said Jodar. “I have tried to give my best. However, the results have not been in my favor. Overall, this season has gone well for me. Now is the time to recover and reflect on this tournament and what lessons I can learn from it.”
The 19 year old tennis player dismissed the notion that his performance was influenced by his physical condition. He stated that he was in “good physical condition” and added that he did not feel tired due to the schedule of matches in the tournament. Therefore, the defeat felt even more confusing. However, Buyunchaokete’s performance also deserves appreciation.
“Things like this can happen because I’m still new. I’m just trying to learn from it so that similar incidents don’t happen again. The first incident could happen to anyone. We’re all human. However, if it happens a second time, it could be a serious problem because it means I didn’t learn from this experience,” explained Jodar.
Article Tags: us open, buyunchaokete
Published by Ligaolahraga.com at https://www.ligaolahraga.com/tenis/tika-rafael-jodar-telan-kekalahan-telak-di-us-open