For João Fonseca, this Australian Open will be very different from the one before.
A year ago, the Brazilian arrived at the tournament as an 18-year-old rookie, 145th in the world, he had to play three “quali” matches to reach the main draw — including the victory over Andrey Rublev, which was his calling card on the circuit. He had a meteoric rise, rising 115 positions in the rankings, winning two ATP titles, enchanting the tennis world. Now, at 30th, he will be seeded in a Grand Slam for the first time.
The start of the season is not better because he has been suffering from back pain, including missing the ATPs in Brisbane and Adelaide. But, at the time of writing this column, the Brazilian debuts against the North American Eliot Spizzirri, 89th in the ranking, in the tournament that starts this Saturday night (17th) in Brazilian time.
João’s morale is so high that the last person to praise him was simply one of the greatest of all time (and “the greatest” for many). From Australia, where he is playing an exhibition match that opens the competition, Roger Federer said that the Brazilian is a name that could threaten the reign currently shared between Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner; who stands out for his power, forehand, backhand, serve; who has a good aura and is an easy guy to like. And he hopes João believes he can beat them and win the tournament.
“You don’t want to be the third guy, you want to be ‘the’ guy,” said the Swiss. As part of the Big Three – he, Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic have 66 Grand Slam titles between them – Federer knows what that means.
Today, the rivalry left by the big three is between Sinner and Alcaraz. Djokovic is not yet out of the picture, but he is 38 years old, and there seems to be an appetite on the circuit to see what the new generation can do.
For all the qualities he brings together, João is the perfect candidate. In an interview with the British newspaper The Guardian published this Thursday (15), he says that the dream of becoming number one in the world means a long, difficult, but possible path. He doesn’t like comparisons — when he heard, for example, that he would be the next Djokovic — nor with Sinner or Alcaraz: “I’m going to make my own story.”
Every time I see or read an interview with him, I realize how he shares about himself in the right way. Admit what you consider needs to improve – “consistency, responsibility, mentality” – but don’t let them enter your life too much. He doesn’t expose his personal side too much and protects himself by avoiding social media during tournaments.
The last reference that foreigners have of a winning Brazilian tennis player is Gustavo Kuerten, whose last of three titles at Roland Garros is 25 years ago. One more reason for everyone to look at João with excitement. He ends the interview by saying that it is impossible to control other people’s expectations of him — something that applies to each of us in any profession. The only thing you can do is keep working.
In the next few hours, we will know João’s future at the Australian Open. If he manages to play, and advance, he could face Sinner in the third round. Regardless, the future continues to look bright.
And when a tennis legend speaks so highly of you, it must be hard to have a bad day.
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