Lengthy after the chants of his identify had died out, Joao Fonseca remained on the clay at Court docket 7.
Armed with a black marker and together with his match-worn baseball cap now on backwards, and all of a sudden wanting like an 18-year-old once more after a match wherein he appeared properly past his years, Fonseca posed for selfies with dozens of followers. He signed autographs — on tennis balls, hats, shirts, something that was put in entrance of him — for kids and adults. When he was accomplished with all of the followers on one aspect of the court docket, he made his method to the opposite, seemingly set on reaching everybody who stayed.
He smiled extensively all through and regarded like a youngster merely thrilled to be at his first French Open.
However his play throughout his first-round match on Tuesday informed a special story. In the course of the conflict in opposition to Hubert Hurkacz, the event’s No. 30 seed and a former Wimbledon semifinalist, Fonseca was dominant. He took management early — breaking Hurkacz within the third recreation of the opening set — and left little to likelihood from there.
In entrance of a vocal crowd packed into each accessible seat of the 1,500-capacity court docket, with followers waving Brazilian flags and lining up on the highest railings and tons of extra ready outdoors in hopes of glimpsing a peek, Fonseca proved why he is lengthy been thought of tennis’ subsequent celebrity. He defeated Hurkacz 6-2, 6-4, 6-2 in simply an hour and 40 minutes.
Whereas Fonseca informed reporters on Tuesday that merely reaching the second spherical was “only a dream come true,” his match in opposition to Pierre-Hugues Herbert on Thursday will now be probably the most coveted seats on the event this week. And each match Fonseca performs, each highlight-making shot and each victory over a top-ranked opponent, will solely proceed to propel the prodigious teenager to new heights of fame. However he sounded prepared for all of it.
“The expectations are going to come back. Persons are going to speak, evaluate [me] with different folks, different gamers,” Fonseca stated after his win over Hurkacz. “For my mentality, it is simply good to be with good folks that may assist me to stick with a very good mentality that I want. I must do the most effective that I can [to] enhance my routines, stick with good folks, keep wholesome and never specializing in the expectations.
“I am managing to do very properly, however generally the strain goes to come back. It is regular. It’s worthwhile to take care of it.”
FONSECANON 💥#RolandGarros pic.twitter.com/tEBHbA3F2F
— Roland-Garros (@rolandgarros) Could 27, 2025
Fonseca’s heroics for the Court docket 7 crowd on Tuesday had been nothing new for individuals who have adopted him on his transient however thrilling journey on the tennis scene.
Fonseca formally put the world on discover in 2023 by successful the US Open boys title after which claiming the world No. 1 junior rating the identical 12 months. He grew to become the primary Brazilian participant in historical past to finish the 12 months with the highest rating, drawing the eye of the game’s largest names. He was requested to attend the year-end ATP Finals as a hitting associate for the likes of Carlos Alcaraz, Jannik Sinner and Daniil Medvedev.
Simply three months later, Fonseca recorded his first win on the ATP Tour — a head-turning 6-0, 6-4 victory over the seventh-seeded Arthur Fils at Fonseca’s hometown Rio Open wherein he had been attending as a fan since early childhood. He went on to succeed in the quarterfinals of the 500-level occasion, together with his matches all through the week drawing soccer-like crowds. His rating soared. Initially slated to play on the College of Virginia beginning within the fall of 2024, Fonseca determined to forego his collegiate eligibility and switch skilled.
The joy round him continued to construct.
Fonseca had been the primary man born in 2006 to win on tour, and he continued to rack up many different “youngest” distinctions because the season progressed.
He received his first Challenger title in August — the youngest participant to win at that degree final season — and steadily continued his climb up the rankings. By the tip of 2024 he was in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, for the Subsequent Technology ATP Finals, that includes the highest eight-ranked males 20 years and youthful. Fonseca was the youngest participant within the area, and the lowest-ranked at No. 145. He received.
Whereas few others had any doubt, the win was validating for Fonseca.
“It was tremendous essential for me to see that I am on the correct path,” Fonseca later informed ESPN. “To be enjoying in opposition to the highest eight finest guys below 20, simply to see how good they’re, it was nice to have the ability to win the title and a brilliant cool expertise.”
And even his far-more established friends could not conceal their admiration.
“I personally imagine it is just the start of him rising up within the rankings and displaying his precise true potential,” Stefanos Tsitsipas, the 2021 French Open finalist, informed reporters on the United Cup the subsequent week. “I feel we will see large issues from him within the subsequent few years.”
Fonseca made good on Tsitsipas’ declare simply weeks later. After successful his three qualifying matches, Fonseca made his eagerly awaited main major draw debut on the Australian Open. In his first-round match, in opposition to the No. 9 seed and 10-time Grand Slam quarterfinalist Andrey Rublev, Fonseca made certain his formal introduction to the tennis world was a memorable one with a 7-6 (1), 6-3, 7-6 (5) victory.
The gang — a lot of whom had been carrying Brazilian soccer jerseys — roared in ovation following match level and he celebrated like a seasoned veteran. He later stated it was his first time enjoying in a “huuuuuge stadium.”
He misplaced his subsequent match in a five-set battle to Lorenzo Sonego however he cracked the highest 100 following his efficiency in Melbourne.
And his momentum did not cease there. In his subsequent event, Fonseca went from a prodigy brimming with potential to a star of the current with the primary ATP title of his burgeoning profession on the Argentina Open. He grew to become the youngest Brazilian participant in historical past to win on the tour and the fourth-youngest ATP participant to win a title on this century, behind solely Kei Nishikori, Rafael Nadal and Alcaraz.
Whereas Fonseca has all the time had large objectives for himself, even he was stunned by simply how rapidly the outcomes had come.
“I hoped I might go this far, however not this quick,” Fonseca informed ESPN whereas sitting within the participant’s lounge at Indian Wells a couple of weeks later. “I used to be working arduous for this, however yeah, this has been sooner than [even] I might think about.”
Throughout Nadal’s press convention on Sunday following an on-court ceremony honoring him, the 14-time French Open champion was requested about only one present participant. It wasn’t Alcaraz or Iga Swiatek, the reigning champions who each had been in attendance on the ceremony, nor any of the opposite favorites to win the 2025 title, however as a substitute, Fonseca.
“He is a really younger participant that began his profession doing very, very properly,” Nadal stated. “He has an awesome future in entrance. I want him all the easiest. I met him a few occasions. Looks as if he has an excellent interplay together with his household and folks subsequent to him. He is very properly educated. I actually hope that he has an awesome future in entrance.”
And the query to Nadal was hardly an anomaly. It appears like each high participant has been requested about Fonseca recently. Coco Gauff, herself a current teenage phenom, proclaimed she’s been “on the Fonseca prepare since early.” Alcaraz, one other fellow former teenager prodigy-turned-superstar, stated Fonseca’s “potential is big” and praised his “actually, actually excessive” degree.
Even Novak Djokovic, the 24-time main champion who was as soon as an up-and-coming star himself, has been impressed by what he is seen.
“He appears to be dealing with [the expectations and attention] very properly,” Djokovic stated. “I imply, I do not know him personally so properly, however from what I’ve seen on the court docket, not solely the best way he performs however the best way he behaves, and folks round him, looks like there’s a superb degree of stability and professionalism and devotion, like what we have now seen for the final couple years with Alcaraz. He has the potential to be actually a celebrity of this recreation. Little doubt about it.”
For Fonseca, nonetheless simply 18, it has been surreal at occasions to listen to gamers he is admired for a lot of his life know who he’s, not to mention communicate so extremely about him. He is nonetheless getting used to seeing gamers like Grigor Dimitrov and Alex de Minaur subsequent to him on the observe court docket however admits generally all of it simply does not really feel actual. His matches have drawn big, typically near-capacity crowds across the globe, regularly with hordes of passionate Brazilian followers, full with flags and yellow-and-green gear. The ambiance was so electrifying on the Miami Open, wherein he reached the third spherical, Fonseca later remarked he felt like he “was in Brazil.”
On Tuesday, he estimated about “80% of the group was Brazilian” on Court docket 7 — and referred to as it “tremendous good.”
He nonetheless cannot totally imagine it when somebody stops him to take an image, however it’s changing into extra regular to him with every event — and he is all the time glad to do it.
“Three years in the past, I used to be the child asking for the image,” Fonseca stated. “I do know what it means. It is a dream come true that folks at the moment are impressed by me.”
Regardless of the rising twister of enthusiasm round him, Fonseca and his household are attempting to maintain it as regular and relaxed as they will in the meanwhile. Whereas companies like Roger Federer’s Team8 have famously tried to signal him, he is declined to have a proper agent for now. He as a substitute depends on his mother and father — his father Christiano is the founder and CEO of a Brazilian hedge fund — to play that function for him.
He introduced on Franco Davin, who guided Juan Martin del Potro to US Open victory in 2009, as a member of his workforce earlier this spring, however Fonseca’s main coach continues to be Guilherme Teixeira, who he first met and began coaching with as a 12-year-old on the Rio de Janeiro Nation Membership. Fonseca’s inside circle is small and he likes it that manner. These round him hold grounded and targeted on staying the course.
Like most younger gamers, particularly those that have already achieved a lot, Fonseca has large desires for his profession. However he insists he is solely eager about the subsequent steps, understanding these might be what get him to his final objectives. Proper now he is targeted on making the principle draw for each main this season and enhancing his rating sufficient so he can play in as many Masters 1000-level and 500-level tournaments as doable.
He’ll have an opportunity to succeed in the third spherical at a Grand Slam for the primary time together with his subsequent match in opposition to Herbert, a French journeyman practically twice his age, on Thursday. Tuesday’s victory will seemingly transfer him to a brand new career-high rating of round No. 57, and one other win would propel him simply outdoors the highest 50. Jack Draper, the No. 5 seed, or beloved Frenchman Gael Monfils would await within the Spherical of 32.
Fonseca admitted he has struggled at occasions this spring with the burden of the exterior strain. He stated it made him really feel tense on the court docket and took away a few of his enjoyment. However he says he is discovered a well beyond that and is now prepared to simply respect his time in Paris. Nonetheless lengthy it’s. And regardless of how many individuals are watching and projecting on what it means for his future.
“Now I am feeling very snug,” Fonseca stated. “I am feeling very glad on court docket. Blissful and enjoying good.”