Jódar gets into tremendous trouble in Basel by letting a great opportunity slip away

Rafa Jodar almost reached the quarterfinals of the ATP 500 indoor hard court tournament in Basel. He had the victory in his hands, it slipped away when he had it best to unbalance in his favor a complicated duel with the Monegasque Valentin Vacherot, that imposed his serve and the negative balance of the Spaniard in tiebreaks.

A great missed opportunity for the Madrid native, 20 years old and world number 11. No drama because he has no real demands in his first professional season. Twelve months ago it was ranked 207th in the world.

However, after such an extraordinary debut, the already competitive and ambitious Jódar wants to finish the campaign in style. He has secured a position in the Final 8 of the Davis Cupseeks to sign the feat of getting into the world top-10, as well as in the ATP Finals, in Turin, in his first professional year.

You’ve gotten yourself into quite a bit of trouble with this elimination at the hands of Valentin Vacherot27 years old and number 31, a ‘gunner’ who moves well indoors and on a fast track. It was imposed by 7-6 (4), 2-6 and 7-6 (5) in 2h.30′. The man from Madrid wore black crepe on the left sleeve of his shirt as a sign of mourning for the victims of the Toledo train accident.

Jodar He has lost 13 of the 21 tiebreaks played on the ATP Tour. An element to improve. He was able to finish in the last of them, with 5-4 and two service turns to sentence. He lost them, as well as the last one of the match, a powerful serve from Vacherot that the Leganense could not control, despite being one of the best returners today.

In the same third set, Jódar went ahead with a break up, 2-1, which he lost in a row. He also couldn’t do more damage with two breaking balls for 5-4 and serve. Rafa made 8 of 11 break balls, Vacherot had enough to break him once out of three times.

Under cover and on a fast surface these things happen. Vacherot came to the rescue with the serve, always above 200 km/h, causing damage with the open or, many times, pointing at Jódar’s bodywho concluded the match with 10 ‘aces’, only three less than his opponent.

The nerves of seeing a premiere in the world’s top 10 nearby also count, they are experiences that you must learn to handle. He no longer depends on himself to be ‘top ten’ in the next ranking, on Monday. You’ll have to wait and see what they do. Novak Djokovic, Alex de Minaur and Taylor Fritz, who also seek to snatch the last place to be in the Turin Finals, which for now remains the property of Jódar.

The sentence, in any case, is postponed to the Paris Masters 1000 ATPnext week. It will be there Rafa Jodar, who will fight for a ticket to Turin, better as a starter. If not, there will still be the Final 8 of the Davis Cup in Bologna, with Spain bidding hard for the ‘silver bowl’.