Jódar, with water up to his neck, asks Alcaraz and Shelton for help in Paris

“I have closely followed Rafa all season and it’s been amazing. We are proud of him,” he remarks. Carlos Alcarazwho hopes to meet him at the ATP Finals in Turin, “because he deserves it.” In an edition “that I wouldn’t say strange, but different, because four or five players will make their debut. Hopefully Rafa too.”

So that it is possible that Rafa Jodar20 years old, making his debut in the Masters Cup in his first professional season, Carlos Alcaraz will have to help the Madrid native. He must eliminate the American this Friday Taylor Fritz in the quarterfinals of the Shanghai ATP Masters 1000.

Although Rafa Jódar’s mathematical classification will only be a reality after the Paris quarterfinals if he also Ben Shelton eliminates his fellow American Tommy Paul.

Jódar, who fell to the Norwegian Casper Ruud In the second round, he will be out if Fritz beats Alcaraz, whom he has beaten only one of seven times, or Paul reaches the final of the event. Tommy is 2-2 with Ben Shelton.

Although again in this Paris edition it is difficult to make predictions in advance. Under normal conditions it could be a positive scenario for Jódar, who previously benefited from the Australian’s defeats. Alex de Minaur and the Serbian Novak Djokoviclater than his, but Fritz and Paul turn out to be serious threats.

He is up to his neck in water, he asks for help from Alcaraz and Shelton, who have had their homework done for a long time. Both will attend the ATP Finals, as well as the German Alexander Zverevthe Russian Daniil Medvedev and two rookies, the Italian Flavio Cobolli and the french Arthur Fils.

The American one would also be released Frances Tiafoe, which depends solely on the combination of Tommy Paul, aspiring to his first Finals, not being Paris champion in a final with Taylor Fritz, already a veteran in the masters’ event.

Paris passes sentence to close the ATP Finals, to its eight protagonists, who will be divided into two groups of four, from November 15 to 22, just the week before the Davis Cup Final 8 takes place in Bologna.