The back pain that bothered João Fonseca in recent days led the Brazilian tennis player to announce that he will no longer play this season. But his goal for 2025 – a place in the 32 seeds at the Australian Open – has probably been achieved. This is due to the score accumulated so far by the “new João”, more mature, as he defined himself on Wednesday (29).
“Man, as I’ve said several times, players will feel discomfort, but you have to know how to deal with it. Today I felt much better, so much so that I didn’t call a physio. But, anyway, discomfort will happen at some point”, said the 19-year-old to Sheet right after the defeat to Russian Karen Khachanov (6/1, 3/6 and 6/3).
During the match the day before, the victory over Canadian Denis Shapovalov, the Brazilian asked for a back massage.
After Paris, he was supposed to compete in the new tournament in Athens, but his staff confirmed this Thursday (30) that he will no longer play this season due to low back pain. The 2026 season starts in the second half of December.
After the elimination, João Fonseca was in no mood to do calculations about the ranking. “We don’t get to count, no. It’s just playing week after week and let’s go. When we get there, we’ll see.” But, with the 50 points gained at the Masters 1000 in Paris, he should jump from 28th to somewhere between 24th and 26th place, with 1,665 points.
Even losing points for not playing, he will reach the Australian Open in January with at least 1,510 points. An analysis of how much the 32nd and final seed had in recent years shows that it should be enough to meet the target announced in June. In 2024, 1,337 points were needed; this year, 1,512. The current number 32, Frenchman Corentin Moutet, has 1,473 points.
Being seeded is good because, in theory, it increases the probability of facing weaker opponents in the first rounds of the Grand Slam.
The ATP (Professional Tennis Players Association) ranking takes into account the points earned in the previous 52 weeks. Without playing, Fonseca will lose 155 points by January. He can keep part of them if he competes in the Canberra tournament in December, already in the preparatory phase for the Australian Open – last year, he was champion, gaining 125 points.
Despite the defeat to Khachanov, Fonseca lived in Paris and the previous week, in Basel (Switzerland), where he was champion, which was perhaps the best moment of his early professional career.
“It’s a new João, much more mature, able to understand much more how to play tennis, at this level, at which moment to make the balls that I like to make, and at which moments to be more solid, make the guy play, make the guy think a little more. So, it’s a concept of a much more evolved player”, analyzed Fonseca himself.
