The statistic of Jódar against Tabilo that shows his growth

Jose Morón - 18 Aug 2026 | 02:01
ATP Rafael Jódar Alejandro Tabilo ATP Cincinnati 2026

Against the Chilean, Rafa showed some unusual numbers for him that reflect how he is progressing as a player.

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Key maturity of Tabilo.

Normally, Rafa Jódar wins against his rivals through sheer power and domination. From the back of the court, he unleashes his powerful shots and pushes his opponents back to dominate the baseline. Today, against Alejandro Tabilo in Cincinnati, he won from a totally different perspective, which speaks volumes about how the Madrid player is progressing as a tennis player. Today's victory says a lot about the level and improvement Rafa is achieving.

Because even on the day he faced Sinner or Fonseca in Madrid, Rafa tried to win by dominating the baseline and pushing them back. That is his way of winning. His Plan A. Therefore, on days when things don't go as he wants, he suffers a little more than necessary. He perhaps lacked making the opponent “play poorly”. Not insisting on their weaker area, as was the case with Jódar's error in Canada against Nakashima. Today, that did not happen.

What Rafa and his father are demonstrating is that they know how to perfectly analyze what happens in previous matches. Against Tabilo, he lost badly earlier this year in Indian Wells. They already reduced the gap in Washington two weeks ago, but today was a display of a thoroughly studied and perfectly executed match. Tennis IQ elevated to the maximum.

Jódar targeted Tabilo's weak area

If we look at the Insights data from TennisViz, we see that Jódar attacked Tabilo's backhand 43% of the time, which is his weakest point. This is not, at all, the norm in Rafa's tennis, who usually finishes matches attacking around 33% on each section of the court if we divided it into three, distributing his shots all over the court.

 

 

This 43% attack on Tabilo's backhand shows that Rafa and his father have perfectly studied the match and executed their strategy perfectly. This had not been customary for Jódar until now, which indicates how the player from Leganés is looking to win not only through power but also by discomforting his opponents and making them play poorly in their least favorite area.

Another Rafa, in this case, Nadal, was a master at that. He was the best in the world at making his opponents play worse due to the type of ball he had and how he always sought to exploit his opponents' weaknesses. Jódar's match today serves to understand that on the path of a tennis career, these steps are necessary to improve and become even more complete.

There are many ways to achieve victory, and the fact that Rafa is already working on a Plan B to rely on when Plan A doesn't work is something for his fans to start rubbing their hands thinking about the level Jódar will reach tomorrow if he continues on this path. 
 

This is an automatic translation. You can read the original news, La estadística de Jódar ante Tabilo que muestra su crecimiento