MUTUA MADRID OPEN

April 28, 2026

Rafael Jodar

Press Conference

R. JODAR/V. Kopriva

7-5, 6-0

THE MODERATOR: Congratulations on winning the match today. You're into the quarterfinals here in Madrid. How do you feel overall about your performance?

RAFAEL JODAR: Yeah, super happy. Thank you very much. It was a tough match. Everyone here plays very good, so I had to give my best to win this match. So I'm very happy with my performance.

THE MODERATOR: Questions in English, please.

Q. Q. Can you tell me what is it that you think has prepared you to play in your hometown and in front of, in a stadium with thousands of people, and to deal with all the sort of pressure that comes with that? That's not something that a lot of people could handle at 19 years old, playing in this kind of atmosphere for the first time. How did it get to the point where you are seemingly able to do it fairly easily?

RAFAEL JODAR: Yeah, I think just going step by step, match by match, I think that's the most important thing, you know. When you are not thinking like in the future, you know, you are living in the present, and trying to give your best in the match you're playing, I think that's one of the keys to do well, you know. There are obviously some times where you're not going to play that well, but in those, in those times I think it's very important to have the same mentality as you had in other matches where you've played better. Yeah, I think that's one thing that I think I do pretty well.

Q. I don't know if you saw that Jannik came to watch your match the other day, that's not very common. He said he was curious, he wanted to see you live. Today he said that the match of tomorrow will be the first of many, so he's talking about you with enormous respect. Were you expecting that, or is it something that it's surprised you positively?

RAFAEL JODAR: Well, Jannik is a great player. It will be a really good match tomorrow, and I'm really excited. I'm looking forward to playing Jannik for the first time tomorrow here in Madrid. But, yeah, I mean, it's, yeah, very exciting to play against him for the first time here in my hometown.

Q. What do you like most about Sinner? His mentality or one of his shots, like backhand, I don't know.

RAFAEL JODAR: Well, Jannik I think is a great player overall. Yeah, you can see that in every match he plays he's always very focused with the mentality, and with a great mentality I think that helps him a lot during the matches. Obviously he's got a great forehand, backhand. Overall I think he's a great player, so if I want to do well tomorrow I'll have to give my best.