We are entering the decisive phase of the main football tournament of the year for European clubs, the Copa São Paulo de Futebol Júnior, which should reveal the main athletes from Real Madrid, Chelsea, Barcelona, Qarabag and Shakhtar — which must have already hit with some Corinthians under-9 revelation.
Although the Copinha, as it is affectionately called, this year accepts players up to 21 years old. Continuing like this, it is a case of being renamed the São Paulo Masters Football Cup.
And the state ones are already starting. That’s precisely why teams like São Paulo, Flamengo, Atlético-MG and Cruzeiro traveled to Orlando, in the USA — not even they want to watch the first rounds.
Meanwhile, the young athlete who attracts the most attention in Brazil, and not just in Brazil, is on the other side of the world, in Australia. Tennis player João Fonseca, 18 years old and 112th in the ATP rankings, makes his debut in Grand Slam tournaments this Tuesday morning (14). Right away, take the Russian-temperamental-quarryman Andrei Rublev, 27, ninth in the rankings.
It is possible that the reader who comes across this column only in the printed version, on Tuesday, already knows the result of the game — which could be a defeat, naturally. However, not even a possible stumble can dampen what could be the birth of a new Brazilian sports idol in 2025.
In fact, it seems that no man played tennis in the country after the phenomenal Gustavo Kuerten and Fernando Meligeni, who wasn’t just tough, he was very good. We had some good recent names, the main one being Thomaz Bellucci, who came 21st in the ATP (more than Meligeni, who was number 25).
And we have Bia Haddad Maia, number 17 in the WTA, who was already top 10 and has everything it takes to reach the top 5. No one, however, came close to what Gugamania was.
And we, as a homeland of rackets, were unable to ride Guga’s wave and form a group of Brazilians in the elite, as has been the case with Argentina for a long time, to name a country that also lacks sports investment.
There are four Argentines in the top 50, eight in the top 100. In Brazil, the only top 100 at the moment is Thiago Wild, in 79th position and already eliminated from the Australian Open.
None of the Argentines, or Wild, however, attracted as much attention from the so-called specialized media and renowned former players as Fonseca.
It’s not as normal as it seems for a youth star to shine in professional tennis. Fonseca, who was first in the youth rankings, caught the world’s attention with his good performances at last year’s Rio Open, when he reached the quarterfinals.
When Guga won Roland Garros, in 1997, he was number 66 in the rankings, and didn’t have half the attention that Fonseca, still 112, has.
North American Andy Roddick, former number 1, was the last to say that the young Brazilian is a name to keep an eye on in 2025 and that he does have a chance of defeating top 10 Rublev in the first round.
Fonseca is not Guga, yet. But it’s the best combination of talent and charisma to emerge in tennis in recent decades. Wild, who is talented and could also enter the top 50, has the friendliness of a castor bean.
Thiago Monteiro, 30, another Brazilian fighting to be in the top 100, posted an image the other day alongside his young compatriot, saying that he is already “fonsecalized”. This scribe, too.
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