It was under much applause from Andre Agassi and the public at the Chase Center in San Francisco, United States, that João Fonseca defeated Flavio Cobolli on Friday night (19), already dawn on Saturday (20), in Brazil. The Brazilian, 42nd in the world defeated the Italian, 25th, by 2 sets to 0, partial 6/4 and 6/3, in one hour and 26 minutes.
The match was valid by the Laver Cup media, a display tournament created by star Roger Federer. The dispute is not worth points in the ranking, but the inclusion of the 19-year-old Brazilian among participants is significant, for putting him alongside names such as Spanish Carlos Alcaraz, number one in the world.
The athletes are divided into two teams, one with athletes from Europe, one with representatives from the rest of the world. Fonseca was responsible for giving the world team their first points, gaining a lot of applause with the strength of their “Forehand”. There were personalities in the audience like Federer himself and athletes of the Golden State Warriors, who sends his NBA game at Chase Center.
“It’s a pleasure to be here, in the face of so many legends of the sport. It means a lot to be on this court,” said the player, the youngest of the eight years of Laver Cup history. “My team helped me keep me positive. I was a little nervous, but I started talking more to Andre,” he said, with some intimacy to Agassi, captain of the world team.
Legend of the sport, the 55-year-old American retired 12 days after John’s birth. “We were talking about it. He said he retired in 2006, I said I was born in 2006. He then said, ‘Wow, thank you, thank you.’ It’s really amazing to have contact with these legends. I just thank you.”
