What is the perfect moment to pin your hopes on an up-and-coming tennis player?
People had visions of Carlos Alcaraz’s future when he was 10 years old, an age when Babolat and other major racket companies started handing out equipment and memorabilia from time to time. At France’s Les Petits As, the premier tournament for juniors aged 14 and under, even if they haven’t signed a contract, prospects who rack up matches, sets, and matches are already on the radar of their parents. There are agents who are.
By these standards, trusting João Fonseca, a friendly Brazilian teenager with wavy light hair who can already serve at 140 mph (225 km/h), is quite conservative. Seems like a big gamble.
Some more numbers. At 18 years old, he is the youngest player to compete in the ATP Next Generation Finals, a tournament for top male players under the age of 20 held in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. And at 6 feet 1 (185 cm), Fonseca is in the Goldilocks zone of neither too tall nor too short among the players who have won most Grand Slams in the past decade.
Fonseca grew up idolizing Roger Federer, which is one reason why On, the Swiss sports manufacturer in which Federer has a large stake, is his top sponsor. Fonseca, from Rio de Janeiro, signed with On two years ago when he was just 16 years old. .
“They said it would be me, Iga (Swiatek) and Ben Shelton,” Fonseca recalled in an interview last month. “Of course I said yes.”
Perhaps Fonseca’s business acumen is as precocious as his tennis talent. Two years ago, On’s stock price was $17.36. It’s about $55 now. His contract allows him to travel full time with a physical therapist. He also got to practice with the 22-year-old Shelton when they competed in the same tournament.
When they first met at the 2023 Mallorca Championship, Shelton understood that Fonseca was new to the On team and suggested they practice the next day.
“I was like, ‘I’m no one, why don’t you practice with me?'” Fonseca said.
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He wasn’t nothing then, and he definitely isn’t now. He won the US Open Junior title in September 2023, becoming the first Brazilian player to top the junior rankings that season. In the first round of the Rio Open in February, he defeated Arthur Fils 6-0, 6-4. At the time, the loss seemed like a major setback for Fils, who is currently ranked in the top 20 in the world and was the favorite to win the Next Generation tournament, which begins today. They played in the last game of the first day. Fonseca defeated Fils again in a best-of-four set over five games, serving like a veteran after breaking with a sudden-death deuce in the final set.
The first loss in Brazil has become more palatable for Fils since it happened. Fonseca started this year ranked 727th in the world. He is currently ranked 145th and came within a few matches of his first Grand Slam main draw in New York in August, but lost in three matches to Eliot Spitzilli, who is four years his senior. Set in the final round of qualifying.
João Fonseca in full flight in Rio de Janeiro. (Wang Tiancong / Xinhua News Agency, via Getty Images)
Given Fonseca’s big serves, nimble baseline power and shy demeanor on and off the court, the obvious comparison to the top player is world No. 1 Jannik Sinner. Fonseca hums like a flywheel, ready to knock his opponent off his axis when he leans into a forehand or a down-the-line two-handed backhand. He can also change gears.
At the Madrid Open, Fonseca suffered a set down to another under-20 rival, American Alex Michelsen. Losing a cross-court forehand rally, Fonseca drove the ball straight down the middle, challenged Michelsen to create an angle, and began pinging short ones into the corners. Michelsen was unable to pass the test, but Fonseca offered him a bagel to tie the match at 6-0 and win the third set.
“He is a player who can perform his best under great pressure and has the ability to quickly adapt to different situations,” coach Guilherme Teixeira wrote in an email. Teixeira has been in charge since he was 11 years old. Fonseca’s mother, Roberta, has been watching him play for much longer than that.
Roberta, who also responded to questions via email, said she has never seen her son get nervous before a tennis match. She remembers losing when he was 8 or 9 because he kept volleying the ball back into play. He was extremely upset about leaving the court, but as soon as he saw his mother, he began begging her to sign for another tournament.
This does not guarantee anything, including a spot in the Next Gen Finals. Alcaraz and Sinner both climbed the tennis mountain to win, but the tournament also featured younger versions of Alexander Zverev, Stefanos Tsitsipas, Daniil Medvedev, Taylor Fritz and Casper Ruud. They are all Grand Slam finalists, but only one of them, to this day, is the winner. Medvedev won the 2021 US Open. Many of the legendary top eight at the end of each season have never even come close.
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Fonseca is in this year’s lineup along with France’s Phils and Luca van Assche. Michelsen, Lerner Tian, and Nishesh Basavareddy from the United States; Jakub Mencik of the Czech Republic and Xiang Juncheng of China, also known by his Americanized name Jerry Xiang.
It’s hard to say whether there are any Grand Slam finalists in that group, especially in tennis. Kids wearing swag and spots in Les Petits As may be okay, but being cautious in the face of teen hype is a much safer stance. Brazil has produced top men’s tennis players since former world No. 1 Gustavo “Guga” Kuerten, who won the French Open three times and revolutionized tennis with his early adoption of polyester strings. do not have.
For decades, players in this country and the rest of South America have had to overcome an almost exclusively red clay upbringing. For South Americans, the challenge is much greater for athletes from other red-earth strongholds such as Spain, due to the different stadiums and distances they have to travel to find opponents. It’s no wonder that young people tend to gravitate toward the much more approachable game of soccer before talking about the World Cup trophy, the influence of Ronaldo Nazario and Neymar. To play tennis in Brazil, you almost always need to become a member of a private club.
João Fonseca has already represented Brazil in the Davis Cup. (Emanuele Ciancarini/Getty Images for ITF)
Fonseca remembers traveling to Europe to attend his first match when he was around 13 years old. He played on public courts in Germany with picturesque views. Tennis balls appeared free and unlimited.
“There’s a lot more help available in Europe,” he said.
He was fortunate to be born into a wealthy family with sports-mad parents. His mother was into professional volleyball. She and her husband competed in Brazilian junior tennis as teenagers, ran half marathons, and also competed in road races, mountain cycling, and adventure races.
“Sports runs in our veins,” Roberta said.
Joan played whatever they offered: soccer, volleyball, swimming, judo, skateboarding, surfing, skiing, and even tennis. His mother said he excelled at it all.
At the age of six, he scored all the goals in the academy’s football tournament, and at the same time chased in defense. He was able to swim all four strokes from an early age and was placed on a competitive team by his swimming club. He earned his purple belt in judo at the age of 10.
Teixeira realized his tennis potential when he first saw him at the age of 11. His quality of shot, pure contact with the ball was far superior to other kids his age and older, but there were other things he noticed. Victories didn’t excite him as much, and losses didn’t sadden him as much.
“On tour you have to compete and practice every week and be able to control your emotions,” Teixeira said. “He just resets his mind and starts again.”
Over the last year, Fonseca’s first year as a full-fledged professional, Teixeira has seen him further his dedication. He’s treating tennis as his career for the first time, approaching practice and gym sessions with what Teixeira calls a new level of seriousness.
This is his typical training day schedule. It starts with a muscle test to determine how hard you can push that day.
8:30am: Test 9:00am: Physical therapy and warm-up 10:00am: Gym 11:00am: Practice on court 1:00pm: Lunch and break 3:00pm: On court 4:30pm: Gym 5:00pm 30 minutes: Physical therapy (as needed)
Teixeira said Fonseca also takes care of his rest and diet. He works hard on breathing techniques to stay calm during matches. Improving his footwork will be a big challenge heading into 2025.
However, Fonseca is still a teenager. He can only leave home for about a month before fatigue and homesickness set in. This season, he played in tournaments for four or five weeks, then went back home to train and see friends and family for a few weeks.
João Fonseca reacts to winning the 2023 US Open men’s singles title. (Sarah Steer/Getty Images)
He is also still a teenage tennis player. His biggest challenge is consistency. It’s about figuring out how to win when you’re not playing your best. In junior tennis, the better player – the one with the best technique and the best shot – usually wins the tournament. That doesn’t happen in serious situations.
“On the Pro Tour, there are a lot of players who can find solutions, and the players who find more solutions during the tournament and over the course of several weeks will have better results,” Fonseca said. Ta. He had 7 wins and 7 losses in ATP matches this year. Not bad for an 18 year old. Sinner went 11-10 in 2019, the year he turned 18.
Fonseca has time, but he’s impatient about some things, especially the tremors who pledged allegiance to Red Clay and Slow Court. Instead, he hopes grass will someday become the best surface.
“I love Wimbledon,” he said. “I want to be like Sinner and (Novak) Djokovic. Players who play well on any surface.”
(Top photo: On)
