He gets carried away by the innocence and illusion of those who have not yet been there, in front of the press, Center for Four Spaniards Care in his second incursion for Mutua Madrid Open -in 2024 he lost in the second round … before Cameron Norrie-. Still, he says, he has not noticed the weight of expectations or responsibility beyond the game, so shows sympathy, long responses, some shyness, in a great Spanish even if some word is escaped in Portuguese. JOAO FONSECA (Rio de Janeiro, 18 years old) has revolutionized the world of tennis with the strength of his right and his desire to eat the world. One of these teenagers who are already making Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner, and claims their tennis attention share, although the exhibition still measured. With a title in his saddlebag (champion of the ATP 250 of Buenos Aires this last February, against Francisco Cerúndo) and a good booty of victories of prestige against names such as Andrey Rublev, nine of the world, in the Open of Australia, his first Grand Slam, exhibits a physicist still to build, but a head that inspires confidence so that the trip to the stars is not fleeting.
He was champion of the Júnior Teacher Cup in 2024 and the jump to the elderly has been fluid, 65 of the world, easily adapted to the demands of adults thanks to his own classmates and rivals, who grow up before and grow together. «There are already many new generation players that are among the first hundred. I think that almost all with those I played in that Next Gen tournament. This generation that is with me are coming away and playing very well: Tien, Fils, Michelsen, Mesik, who won in Miami … what I notice is that they have more experience. So I have to enjoy every moment on the track with them, to see what they do differently and what do they do in the key moments. Each tournament is an opportunity to learn ».
He knows well what is needed to be in the elite, but he prefers to walk by making a firm way on the floor: «I think I need to enjoy the new experience of tournaments. I will play for the first time in Rome, and first time in the Roland Garros box. The surface changes are difficult, so I preferred to stay in Rio, in Brazil to continue training in whipped land and get well here. And I also preferred not to travel to other tournaments to spend more days at home. house is still a fundamental pillar in the life of this boy. «Stay at home is also good. Having people who help you every day serves to have a good mentality ». Because Fonseca still becomes heavy that spending so much time in so many hotels and so many countries. «I think one of my weaknesses is that I miss my house a lot. Yes. Although my family tries to come to many tournaments ».
On the track also has some weaknesses, he says. “I still have to improve them, and I’m working hard on them.” But on the side of the strengths that right stands out to reach 180 kilometers per hour as if it were easy. «The truth, I think it’s a natural thing. Since childhood I really liked to go to the ball yy to make ‘winners’. First on one side of the track, but when I was 11 or 12 years old, I was always going to hit ‘Full’. Many times they stayed on the network, but little by little I had more consistency. But I stayed with that thought that I liked to go for the ball, and I think this essence will never change. At important points, keep hitting strong. Yes, I think it’s a natural thing of mine.
It also underlines a quality that can make a difference when it really stands in the noble zone and in the great rounds of the best tournaments: «I think one of my strengths is the mentality. I look at my friends from Brazil and I am the only one who works. I consider tennis a job because I travel almost all year. And that makes me more mature to know how to enjoy these moments, and learn new things. This sport is very difficult, it makes you have many nerves. So I would say that those are my strengths: my right and my mentality ».
His own history
Even to look with distance the expectations that have already been created on it. “Thank God my family helped me a lot to have my head instead, my feet on the ground, is it said ‘soil’? In Brazil it is ‘Chau’. And having my feet on the floor is to remain humble, which is something that my mother and my dad always tell me. The moment in which everything changed was after the final of the Next Gen; And also in Australia – where he won Rublev – where he was the ‘boom’. I tried to keep everything I had to improve to be a great player. I am happy with the way I am facing everything. As I say, this is just the beginning, I have many things to learn; So I must be humble and work hard ».
Guga Kuerten put the ribbon very high in Brazilian tennis: three titles in Roland Garros; Five 1,000 masters. But Fonseca wants to escape that shadow. «I didn’t see Guga much playing; I was born in 2006 and he was almost retired. But I am talking to him. Well, he talks to my coach, because he says it is better for my evolution to communicate with him. And Thomaz Bellucci, although I have not talked to him, are important for Brazilian sport in general.
Can you weigh on your shoulders, still in development, Kuerten’s name? «Sometimes yes, because they speak as if I had to be the next GUGA or something. Something that I always say is that I do not like comparisons, everyone has their own history, and you can win and get different things. I don’t want to be the next Guga Kuerten, I want to be Joao. I wish he did half of what he did. But I want to continue working to make my own story ».
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