THE CHAMPIONSHIPS

July 3, 2026

Rafael Jodar

Press Conference

S. MOCHIZUKI/R. Jodar

1-6, 7-6, 6-4, 6-4

THE MODERATOR: Rafa, I appreciate not the result you wanted today, but could you talk us through the match this afternoon.

RAFAEL JODAR: Yeah, it was a tough match. He played very well in the end of the match. So yeah, it was a tough match.

THE MODERATOR: Questions in English.

Q. Bad luck. Shintaro, he had quite a different, unique play style. He comes to net quite often and ball might be really flat. Did you feel like it's a little bit uncomfortable just to deal with his tennis style and the balls?

RAFAEL JODAR: I mean, he played his tennis. Adapts very well to this surface. Yeah, all credit to him.

I tried to do my best from the start to the last point. So yeah, it wasn't meant to be today. I'll keep pushing and keep learning from this experience.

Q. How much did you know about him before the match? Any information about him?

RAFAEL JODAR: Well, yeah, I could watch some of the matches that he had already played here. Yeah, I had some information. It wasn't that I didn't expect what I was going to see in the court, because I had already watched some of his matches.

Q. Third round, and I imagine you're very disappointed. That says a lot about your progress. Could you imagine this 12 months ago?

RAFAEL JODAR: Well, yeah, I mean, these past 12 months has been great for me, but that doesn't mean that I will not do well in the future.

I have to go tournament by tournament, match by match. I think these matches will help me to learn a lot from the mistakes that I have made and, yeah, keep learning to not make the same mistakes as I did today in the next match.