Brazilian seeks to advance in the Paris Grand Slam and has a potential confrontation with Novak Djokovic in the third round of the competition
The Brazilian João Fonseca debuts this Sunday (24) in the main draw of Roland Garros. The tennis player from Rio, currently number 30 in the world rankings and seed 28, will face the French Luka Pavlovic in a match valid for the first round of the clay tournament in Paris.
Luka Pavlovic, 26, is ranked 240th in the ATP rankings and secured his place in the main draw after winning three matches in the qualifying phase. This will be the first confrontation between the two athletes on the professional circuit. Pavlovic makes his debut in the main draws of Grand Slams and was recently defeated by another Brazilian, João Lucas Reis, in the Zagreb Challenger.
If he confirms his favoritism and advances to the second round, Fonseca will face the winner of the duel between Croatian Dino Prizmic (71st) and North American Michael Zheng (145th). The draw projection indicates that, if he reaches the third round, the Brazilian could face the Serbian Novak Djokoviccurrent number four in the world and holder of three titles at Roland Garros.
Fonseca arrives at the tournament after recovering from wrist pain that led him to withdraw from the ATP 500 in Hamburg. In an interview on the event’s media day, the athlete stated that he was fully recovered and confident for the dispute.
This is João Fonseca’s second participation in the French Grand Slam. In last year’s edition, the tennis player won two games, beating Poland’s Hubert Hurkacz and France’s Pierre Hugues-Herbert, before being eliminated in the third round by Britain’s Jack Draper. The Rio native is the only representative from Brazil in the men’s singles main draw in this edition.
*With information from Estadão Conteúdo
