The next superstar in tennis — Rafael Jodar — is facing the current favorite to win Roland Garros — Alexander Zverev — on Tuesday in the quarterfinals.
With Jannik Sinner and Novak Djokovic out and Carlos Alcaraz injured, this is Zverev's best chance to win his first ever major.
Find my French Open preview and Jodar vs Zverev prediction for Tuesday below.
Rafael Jodar vs Alexander Zverev Player Prediction
- Jodar vs Zverev Pick: Both Players to Win a Set
My Jodar vs Zverev best bet is on both players to win a set. Make sure to find the best odds by checking our live French Open odds page.
Jodar vs Zverev Odds
| Rafael Jodar Odds | +240 |
| Alexander Zverev Odds | -307 |
| Spread | Jodar +1.5 (+120), Zverev -1.5 (-165) |
| Over/Under | 35.5 (-130o / -115u) |
| Jodar-Zverev H2H | 0-0 |
| Time | How to Watch | Tuesday, 8 a.m. ET | TNT, MAX, truTV |
| Odds via DraftKings | |
Jodar vs Zverev Preview, Prediction
Rafael Jodar Betting Preview
Jodar is a 19-year-old Spaniard who's ranked 29th in the ATP rankings.
Jodar is currently in the best position of his career, as the new superstar of the men's circuit. He's already considered part of a future Big Four alongside Sinner, Alcaraz and Joao Fonseca. He's already considered the new Rafael Nadal, especially since he has the same first name.
His rise has been simply astonishing. At the start of last year, he was ranked 884th in the world, practically an anonymous player. Over the course of the season, he climbed to 168th, which is remarkable, but not exactly impressive.
Now, he's ranked 23rd in the ATP rankings, and people are already talking about him as a future Grand Slam champion.
While Jodar reminds us of Nadal in some respects, his game is quite different from that of his retired compatriot. Jodar is tall, but he hits extremely cleanly. He can generate power from nothing, has an ideal point of contact with the ball and can easily take control of the point.
He also seems very strong mentally, something I've seen many times this season. It should be mentioned again, this is his first full season on the professional circuit, so he's only now getting used to the courts and the demands of the ATP.
As you can see, he doesn't have major adaptation problems. In addition, he seems very well prepared physically. This is no longer surprising, because we've seen athletes like Fonseca be just as strong. However, it's worth appreciating that Jodar has also worked so much on endurance, although he's only at the beginning of the road.
He seems on the right, healthy path, which will lead to Grand Slam trophies.
Last season was incredible because he climbed 700 positions in the rankings. However, he generally played in small tournaments, having won the Hersonissos Challenger trophy, the Lincoln Challenger trophy and the Charlottesville Challenger trophy, which all came on hard courts.
This means that he's very versatile and effective regardless of the court, which is another sign of a potential future great champion.
This new season started with a qualification at the Australian Open, but there he was defeated by Jakub Mensik. He had a third round appearance in Miami, and then a title on clay in Marrakech, the first ATP trophy of his career.
Quarterfinals in Madrid and Rome followed, and now no one can ignore this talent.
In the French Open, Jodar has had a good, but predictable route. He started as the favorite in every match, but had two very complicated duels against Alex Michelsen (3-2) and Pablo Carreno Busta (3-2).
The match with Carreno Busta was surprising because he was down 0-2. I didn't think Jodar was the weaker player in those first two sets — he had chances to win each time — but something didn't work, especially on serve.
On Tuesday, he has his first really complicated test against Zverev.
Alexander Zverev Betting Preview
Zverev is a 29-year-old German who's ranked third in the world.
He's having a very good season, which isn't surprising. If we exclude Sinner and Alcaraz from the equation, he seems to be the best player in the world and the most consistent over the course of the season.
Obviously, there's also Djokovic, but he's already 39 years old, so he can no longer play very often and only plays good tennis in Grand Slams.
Zverev dominates almost all his opponents, and here, he has a huge chance to win the first Grand Slam of his career. He's currently considered the best tennis player of all time who's never won a major. He has many important trophies: gold medal at the Tokyo Olympics, title at the ATP Finals and seven Masters trophies.
However, although he's played in three Grand Slam finals, he's lost them all. There's also talk about the fact that he's very unstable mentally, as he has difficulty coping with pressure. This is true, because, especially in the US Open final against Dominic Thiem, he completely collapsed mentally, finding it difficult to serve.
Zverev has a huge chance here, and this tournament will define his career. Either he'll become a Grand Slam champion and a future Hall of Famer, or he'll be considered an athlete who can't handle such tournaments.
If he doesn't impose himself, I don't think he'll ever do it again. Not only does he have an ideal path without Sinner, Alcaraz and Djokovic, but if he doesn't win the trophy, I think he'll be weighed down by this result for the rest of his career.
So, the pressure on him is immense and it remains to be seen how he'll handle it. He seems much more mature, more serious and less tense. However, it's one thing to be relaxed in a press conference and another to be relaxed on the court.
Last season was pretty good for Zverev, as he started with a final at the Australian Open. He reached the final in Vienna and semifinals in Paris, but none of the results were really notable.
This new season has been excellent, although he hasn't won any trophies. However, he has semifinals at all the important tournaments he's played in, except in Rome.
Unfortunately, in all of them he lost either to Alcaraz or to Sinner. The biggest regret is the semifinal at the Australian Open, when he couldn't take advantage of Alcaraz's physical problems. In the fifth set, he was the one who suffered and had no energy left, right when he was serving for the match.
Otherwise, semifinals at Indian Wells, Miami, Monte Carlo and Madrid look excellent.
At Roland Garros this year, Zverev has only lost one set. Yes, his draw has been very easy, and in the only match that was more complicated on paper — Tomas Machac — the opponent had physical problems. In the fourth round, he got past Jesper de Jong, a lucky loser, but he had issues in the first set.
Rafael Jodar vs Alexander Zverev Predictions, Betting Analysis
Jodar is an incredible talent, an athlete who's approaching the top 20 after starting last year somewhere in the 800s. This season, he's impressed everyone, has played well on clay and some experts are already saying that he can win this Grand Slams.
However, he's shown vulnerabilities in this tournament, especially on serve. Michelsen was leading Jodar two sets to one and Carreno Busta was up 2-0 on him.
Zverev has a huge, unique chance to win the first Grand Slam of his career. There's only one top-10 player left in the draw in Paris — Felix Auger-Aliassime — and he's modest on clay. Zverev has been on the court less and he hasn't met any top-40 opponent so far. That means he's very rested.
It remains to be seen how he will handle this immense pressure, though, because he'll probably be pressed by the opportunity that's arisen.
The fact that everyone is talking about him not being mentally capable of handling the pressure doesn't help him. He's already shown some negative signs with Quentin Halys, when he lost a set, and then with De Jong, when he came back in the first set.
I think he'll be pressured on Tuesday, and although he'll probably prevail, he won't do it easily. I therefore believe that both players will win at least one set.
Pick: Both Players to Win a Set
