Rafael Jódar's tennis rise and the teenage kicks of a new template for Spain in the sport

MADRID — On Sunday night at the Caja Mágica tennis complex, there were so many moments when Rafael Jódar could have patted himself on the back for an job well done and called it a tournament at the Madrid Open.He was down two break points in his first service game against João Fonseca of Brazil, who has deservedly occupied the hot-young-thing chair in men’s tennis for over a year. Instead, Jódar won that game, and then the first set — in a tiebreak. But in the second, Fonseca started to sprint away from him, taking over this battle of two 19-year-olds who may have a lot to say about the direction of the sport in the coming years.Advertisement