Rafael Jodar, the 19-year-old Spanish tennis player, is closing in on the record for the fastest rise from the top 100 to the top 10 of the men's ATP rankings after beating Arthur Fils to reach the semi-finals of the Canadian Open in Montreal. Victory in his semi-final against Brandon Nakashima would take him into the top 10 and see him break Boris Becker's 41-year-old record, unless Ben Shelton also reaches the final, in which case Jodar would need to beat him too. The achievement would confirm Jodar as one of the sport's most exciting emerging talents, arriving in just his debut season as a full-time professional.

Becker set the current record of 210 days in 1985 aged 18, but Jodar is on course to do it in just 140 days; even a near-miss in Montreal would likely be settled by strong results at Cincinnati or the US Open. His climb has dwarfed those of the modern greats, with Carlos Alcaraz taking 336 days, Novak Djokovic 623, Rafael Nadal and Jannik Sinner 735 each, and Roger Federer 973. Since turning professional in January 2026, Jodar has won a maiden title in Marrakech, reached the Roland Garros quarter-finals, and become the first teenager since Stefanos Tsitsipas in 2018 to reach the Montreal quarter-finals, with his aggressive, Nadal-inspired baseline game drawing comparisons to Sinner.