At a time of declining performance in the season, João Fonseca accumulated his third consecutive defeat this Saturday (9). The 19-year-old Brazilian made many mistakes in his debut at the ATP 1000 in Rome and was beaten by Serbian Hamad Medjedovic, 22, by 2 sets to 1, with partials of 3/6, 6/3 and 7/6 (7/1).
The Rio native, 29th in the tennis rankings, took the lead, closing the first set with a break. In the second half, he wasted five break opportunities and saw his opponent take advantage of theirs. In the seesaw of the match, the Serbian, 67th on the ATP (Tennis Professionals Association) list, gained momentum.
Then, the clash became tense. Medjedovic opened two lead breaks and began exchanging provocations with the noisy Brazilian fans present in the stands. Unfocused, he wasted a “match point” when serving at 5/4 and allowed Fonseca to revive the match.
It was João’s turn to get angry. If the Brazilian fans were making noise between Medjedovic’s serves, the Serb himself decided to speak between the opponent’s services. In this tense scenario, it was the European who prevailed in the tie-break. After 7/1, he asked the audience for silence and gestured good night.
Until the consecutive falls, Fonseca had had great weeks on the circuit, with a high level. In Indian Wells, Miami and Monte Carlo, it only lost to the top three in the rankings. In Munich, he fell to sixth place, the American Ben Shelton, in the quarterfinals. And he never won again. In his debut in Madrid, he lost to the Spaniard Rafael Jodar, then 31st in the world.
With the quick elimination in Rome, Brazilian João runs the risk of losing positions. He will have a week to train before the ATP 500 in Hamburg. The competition in Germany will be the last in the sequence on clay courts that precedes the French Open, a traditional tournament in the Grand Slam series held at the Roland Garros complex in Paris.
