Rafael Jodar's actions in Shanghai deemed 'inexcusable' by former tennis coach with lessons to be learnt

Rafael Jodar's 2026 season has been staggering. In his full season on the ATP Tour, the 20-year-old is on the brink of debuting in the top 10 and is looking good to feature in the ATP Finals. His achievements have been well documented, but also his angry outbursts and contentious moments have made the spotlight. Despite an apology after his recent interaction with a ball kid in Shanghai, Brad Gilbert labelled the Spaniard's actions as 'inexcusable'.

The moment in the early rounds was soon overshadowed by a mesmerising run to a first ever Masters 1000 final. He was the favourite against fellow countryman Alejandro Davidovich Fokina, but after winning the first set was stunned in a terrific comeback by the more experienced Spaniard to lose 1-6, 7-6(5), 6-4.

This immense run boosts his ATP Finals chances as rivals faltered around him at a crucial time. While he was not able to break new ground at Masters 1000 level, it is yet another sign of his glittering potential at the upper echelons of the sport.

Away from the tennis, his treatment and attitude against ball kids has again been studied with Jodar being scrutinised once more. In his second round match against Botic Van de Zandschulp, he was on the back foot and lashed out at the innocent ball kid. "Give me the damn towel right now," he said.

The chair umpire issue a code violation for unsportsmanlike conduct. He contested this decision, but he was tredding on a fine line. The incident got a lot of traction on social media with other occurrances also cropping out throughout the season.

Jodar would apologise for this moment after his quarter-final win over Casper Ruud. “I would like to explain what happened. I made a mistake," he commented. "I thought about it after the match: I should not have done that to the ball kid. It was my mistake. I have the utmost respect for ball kids and umpires at every match and every tournament. I should not have treated the ball kid the way I did.”

He kept his cool for the rest of the tournament and was almost flawless as he came so close to winning the title, being pipped by a resilient Davidovich Fokina.

Gilbert, the former coach of Coco Gauff, went straight to the angry outburst as he reviewed it on the Big T Podcast. He was not so sympathetic.

“There's a lot of things that happen on a court but [this is] one thing that is inexcusable," he said. "You can never lose it on a ball kid. The one where he literally snapped about not getting his towel and swearing at a ball kid to me is inexcusable.”

Tennis can be an enraging sport with players by themselves on court. Frustrating mistakes can be common and outbursts not rare, but against another bystander is something that Gilbert condemed.

“If he gets mad, it should never have anything to do with the ball person again because I feel like that's controllable. So, he should literally watch that video, learn from it. Losing and snapping at an umpire sometimes or a decision on court or yourself, your opponent, anything [but] not a ball person who's very vulnerable.”

It is to be seen whether Jodar learns from his prior mistakes throughout the campaign. Still in his first ever ATP campaign, he will take in a lot of knowledge over a range of subjects as he looks to improve and continue rocketing up the ATP order.