Brazilian tennis player João Fonseca won, this Sunday (26), the biggest trophy of his brief career to date, by defeating Spaniard Alejandro Davidovich Fokina in the Basel tournament, by 2 sets to 0 (6/3 and 6/4). It is his second title on the professional circuit.
Serving well, firmly at the back of the court and confidently applying the variety of his shots, the 19-year-old from Rio became the first Brazilian to win an ATP 500 level trophy since the introduction of this nomenclature in 2009. Gustavo Kuerten was the last to win at an equivalent level, at the ATP International Series Gold in Stuttgart, in 2001.
The victory also catapults João into the top 30 of the world rankings, from 46th to 28th, according to projections — the official list is updated on Mondays. He had finished 2024 as 145th.
With this, he becomes the seventh Brazilian to reach the mark, and has the fifth best ranking of a Brazilian in history, behind Kuerten, Thomaz Bellucci, Thomas Koch and Fernando Meligeni.
In front of a lively crowd — on several occasions, the now traditional cry “Jo-ã-ão! Fonseca!” was heard — in the homeland of his idol Roger Federer, the Brazilian had the advantage of arriving at the match with the freedom to have lower expectations: his opponent was older (he is 26 years old), more experienced, better ranked (18th) and was playing in the fourth final of the year — the third of an ATP 500.
With this lightness, João soon opened up an advantage by breaking his opponent’s first serve, and closed the first partial with his own serve, at 6/3. In the second set, he maintained his intensity and took a 3-1 lead. The Spaniard still reacted, but João closed the match at 6/4, in his first point of the championship, on the fast indoor court in Basel, with 1h25min of play.
Seen by many with enthusiasm and high expectations, the 19-year-old from Rio de Janeiro has been cautiously climbing the ladder on the world circuit.
In December last year, he surprised by winning the Next Gen ATP Finals, a tournament that brings together the eight best players of the season aged 20 or younger, drawing comparisons with the Spanish Carlos Alcaraz, current number 1 in the world, and the Italian Jannik Sinner, number 2, who also won the tournament at the age of 18, in 2021 and 2019, respectively.
Soon after, he added another victory, at the Challenger in Canberra, opening the year with a trophy, and went through the Australian Open qualifier, falling in the second round of the main draw of the first Grand Slam of the year.
Challenger tournaments are generally played by young people at the beginning of their careers on the professional circuit, in search of the first points for the ranking. Then there are the ATP level tournaments, divided into the 250, 500 and Masters 1000 categories, relating to the number of points distributed to the champion.
At the top of the hierarchy are the four Grand Slams — Australian Open, Roland Garros, Wimbledon and US Open —, which each award 2,000 points to the winner.
In February, another leap forward. After leaving behind four Argentines (and a Czech), he lifted the ATP 250 cup in Buenos Aires, becoming the youngest Brazilian champion in an elite tournament on the world circuit.
He would win another trophy, in March, at the Phoenix Challenger, in the USA, reaching the top 60 in the world for the first time, from where he hasn’t left since June. He reached the third round at the Masters 1000 in Madrid and Cincinnati, and in the Grand Slams at Roland Garros and Wimbledon.
Along the way, he had the opportunity to meet Federer and impress Andre Agassi and Pat Rafter, his Laver Cup coaches. He has drawn praise from Thomas Koch to Novak Djokovic.
