He finished. Never before in the history of a tennis main draw had a Brazilian achieved the feat of defeating Novak Djokovic.
Rio’s João Fonseca achieved this this Friday (29), by advancing to the round of 16 of Roland Garros, beating the greatest Grand Slam champion in history by 3 sets to 2, in an upset.
Until then, only one Brazilian had defeated Djokovic on the circuit. In 2004, 24-year-old Júlio Silva from São Paulo beat the previously unknown 17-year-old Serbian in the quarter-finals of the qualifying tournament of the Challenger in Reggio Emilia, Italy. The result cannot be reduced, but for the purposes of ATP statistics (Association of Professional Tennis Players), games that are not from the main draw are not counted in direct confrontations.
Qualifying is a preliminary competition that serves to fill places in the main draw of a tournament. It brings together tennis players with lower positions in the world rankings who did not gain direct entry through the scoring criteria.
Challenger is a smaller tournament (in terms of points and prizes) and serves low-ranked tennis players to gain experience to climb the rankings. On the scale of importance, Grand Slam, as is the case of Roland Garros, is at the top of the tennis pyramid. Then comes ATP Finals, Masters 1000, ATP 500 and ATP 250.
In addition to breaking the Brazilian fast, João Fonseca broke another milestone. This Friday’s duel was the longest of Djokovic’s career at Roland Garros, lasting 4 hours and 53 minutes. The previous record was 4 hours and 39 minutes against Argentine Francisco Cerundolo, in 2024.
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After Silva, Djokovic faced five Brazilians in main draws. Accumulated 11 victories.
His main opponent was Thomaz Bellucci, who came in 21st. of the world. The Serb won six times between 2010 and 2016. The last match was the most memorable. On that occasion, at the Masters 1000 in Rome (also on clay), the São Paulo native won the first set 6/0, but was defeated in a comeback. Belluci also lost on two other occasions: 2011 and 2015.
The other five games were against three Brazilian tennis players: two with Rogério Dutra Silva (2012 and 2018), one against João Souza (2015), one against Ricardo Mello (2005) and with Francisco Costa (2004).
OVERCOMING DJOKOVIC
Comparing Fonseca with Djokovic at the same age, the Brazilian has already managed to surpass another mark of the experienced tennis player.
It was also at the age of 19 that the Serbian, precisely at Roland Garros, reached the round of 16 of a Grand Slam for the first time. And at this age, against top 10 tennis players, he had one victory and four defeats.
Djokovic, who now has 101 titles (24 Grand Slams), had never been champion until Roland Garros in 2006.
Fonseca has already won two titles and against top 10 tennis players he has won two of eight matches.
Now, if the Brazilian advances to the quarterfinals, he will break another of Djokovic’s teenage marks.
