–
Brazilian teenager Joao Fonseca is still at the stage of his rising star status that the advance hype, media “can’t miss” praise and fan chatter still far outstrip his actual accomplishments.
But he’s not so early in that process that he’s not already getting those brave souls calling him “a bust” and “overrated” and “a creation of the *tennis establishment*”. And those are the kind words.
And, as Novak Djokovic pointed out in Miami, Fonseca isn’t the only one coming up.
“Maybe because people talk about Fonseca so much, they forgot about Mensik. They’re the same age. Tien, as well,” he said. “All those players are very young, but they have as good of rankings as he does. They’re as good as he is.”
The gushing profiles, like this one. And this one, have been about Fonseca though. Not about the others.
And some major praise from Djokovic. And the ATP Tour site gushing about his reception this past weekend in Halle. He’s the new face of Brazilian tennis. There’s There’s “a little of Roger Federer, a bit of Rafael Nadal, and a touch of Novak Djokovic in his game.
It’s enough to make a young man’s head spin with the dichotomy.
The “next one” made his 2025 grass-court debut Tuesday in a highly entertaining first-round clash in Halle between two members of the “On” stable: Fonseca and the in-form Flavio Cobolli.
It almost went his way. Except it didn’t. The wild card went out 5-7, 7-6 (3), 7-6 (8) and will now look towards Eastbourne before heading to Wimbledon to make his main-draw debut.
Second go-round on the lawns
Fonseca got his feet wet on the grass in 2024 – mostly at the Challenger level.
He won a couple of matches. But he was also beaten by Brandon Nakashima, Billy Harris, James Duckworth and – in the first round of Wimbledon qualifying at Roehampton – in a third-set super tiebreak by … clay-courter Alejandro Moro Cañas.
Fonseca played the Roehampton/junior Wimbledon double as a 15-year-old in 2022, and as a 16-year-old in 2023, when he won Roehampton and lost to Brit Henry Searle in the quarterfinals at the big club.
The big serve and the huge forehand should be enough to cause at least a little damage.
Although staying on his feet proved to be a bit of a challenge against Cobolli.
A professional project
The kid himself is polished and personable, answering media questions in carefully curated English and saying all the right things.
He’s had a publicist for about a year and a half now – an accomplished and experienced one. That happened long before he got to the main tour but after it was already apparent he had a lot of promise and could well be a … thing.
It’s been a long time – since Juan Martin del Potro and before him, Gustavo Kurten (no offence to anyone else) that a global tennis star was set to emerge from South America. So there’s a fair bit riding on his success. Not that this is in any way his responsibility.
Fonseca is raw talent at present – not as fit or physical as he will be, not as tactically sound as he’ll learn to be. As hard as it is for someone with that much attention on him to develop at his own pace, it appears he has a good structure around him that will allow him to do just that.
But he already has expectations; he walked off the court after the Cobolli match without any acknowledgement to the crowd. And instead of donating his mangled gamer to a kid in the crowd, he packed it up in his bag.
Those are details, of course. He surely walked off that court thinking he should have won it. And perhaps he should have; he went 1-for-9 on break points and, after two points gifted to him by Cobolli, had the match on his racquet serving at 5-4 in that ultimate tiebreak.
Under the radar in Australia
It was only five months ago that the 18-year-old made his Grand Slam main-draw debut, after getting through three rounds of qualifying without too much fanfare at all at the Australian Open
There were some curious folks. But in large part he just did his thing.
That changed after he shocked Andrey Rublev in straight sets in the first round, and he got more attention when he took Lorenzo Sonego to five sets in the second round before going down.
Still, it was nothing compared to what was to come.
Here’s what it looked like in Melbourne.
Curated rookie season
Fonseca’s pro outings have been well-selected so far. He’s gotten wild cards at the biggest events. But he’s also played in places where he’ll get tremendous support.
The South American clay court swing in February was his coming out party. And his first ATP Tour title in Buenos Aires – where he defeated FOUR Argentines on his way to the title – resulted in the kind of welcome the locals reserve for very few Brazilian athletes, given the historic sporting rivalry between the two countries.
A huge huge Brazilian contingent greetede him in Miami in March (nearly a half-million live in the area)
And a late decision to move him to the stadium from an unticketed outside court for his second-round match against Ugo Humbert turned into a bit of a mess as the fans who had filled that court early stampeded out, forcing a delay in the match that was on that court.
Fonseca has played in Portugal, where he shares a language with the fans. And Madrid, where he also speaks the language.
And in Paris, as you can see above, there was also a big Brazilian population eage to see him.
In a press conference there, he made reference to the fact that his Brazilian predecessor, Kuerten, came before him, won their tournament twice and created a legacy for his country that he was happy to tap into.
“The expectations are going to come. People are going to talk, compare with other people, other players. For my mentality, it’s just good to be with good people that can help me to stay with a good mentality that I need. I need to do the best that I can (to) stay healthy and not focusing on the expectations,” he said after the win over Hurkacz. “I’m managing to do very well, but sometimes the pressure is going to come. It’s normal. You need to deal with it.”
Slow and steady, in a hurry
Fonseca has the luxury to be able to take his time.
Unlike many young players coming up, he doesn’t have the responsibility – the burden – of having his family’s well-being hinge on him making it big. That’s a huge pressure that affects the development of a lot of young stars, often to their detriment.
At the same time, that lack of … urgency has hurt many players from more privileged backgrounds. Because it takes SO much to get to the top of professional tennis, and desperate ambition has counted for a lot. At least in the short term.
But you know how it is – once a player captures the zeitgeist, and the media’s attention as the “next big thing”, it’s a roller-coaster ride.
Fonseca received wild cards into all four of the ATP-level events he played in 2024 (plus some early wild cards into Challengers that year).
It’s not as many as some. This year, he got one into Indian Wells, and into Halle this week. But with his ranking rising, and the Masters 1000 draws expanding to 96-player draws, those days are basically behind him.
He might need one in Eastbourne, unless he plays the qualifying or there are a number of withdrawals.
The atmosphere in Halle was unlike South America or Miami or even Paris. The fans seemed somewhat divided between Fonseca and Cobolli. And in the end they were cheering for it to go to the very limit.
He might find that at Wimbledon as well. Generally the fans are pretty subdued – even for their own, they’re nearly always civilized. And while many of the fans will surely be familiar with him, there will be exponentially more who are of the “Well, what has he ever done AT THE CHAMPIONSHIPS???” bent in terms of deciding whether he’s worthy of their admiration. That’s kind of how they roll at the AELTC.
In terms of the tennis, Fonseca has won back-to-back matches only twice in eight tournaments since the South American clay: the third round in Miami, and at Roland Garros.
Let’s hope the majority of people can just allow him to take his lumps and learn his trade and progress on his own schedule.
(Wishful thinking, obviously. But one can dream).