By Chris Oddo | @TheFanChild | Tuesday March 25, 2025
In a whirlwind three months, 18-year-old sensation Joao Fonseca has won his first match at a major, made his Top 100 debut, claimed his first ATP title, and played his first sunshine double.
All the while the Brazilian has done it under the white-hot spotlight of a tennis-crazed nation that believes he just might be their next Guga.
Not an easy task to say the least, but Fonseca has performed admirably, and in these last three months demonstrated the type of game-changing talent that he can be.
He is slated to rise to a career-high ranking of No.58 in the ATP rankings on Monday, and could go much higher this year, with not a lot of ranking points to defend.
Expect him to be ranked much higher – and to be carrying a lot more experience under his belt – when he returns to Miami next year.
For now, Fonseca can bask in the realization that he has a home away from home in South Florida waiting for him. He was adored by fans, many of whom made the trek all the way from Brazil to see him play, and created an atmosphere that was frenzied and electric inside the Hard Rock Stadium in Miami.
“First impression here is that I really felt like I was in Brazil,” he said after being eliminated in the third round by Alex de Minaur. “I mean, not only the crowd, but the organization treated me like I was in Brazil. So it was super cool. I really like the tournament. Probably one of my favorite tournaments now.
“I knew it was going to be crowded, but I didn't know it was going to be huge.”
Fonseca also got to play some big matches on a big stage, against the likes of Top 20 talents Ugo Humbert and De Minaur.
“Playing with the top players, you kind of know where your level is,” he said. “I really see that I'm the right way, I'm on the right path, playing some good matches against top players. That is where I want to be.”
Clay Comes Next
Now it’s on to the clay and a whole new set of experiences for Fonseca. He already proved himself on the surface by winning the Buenos Aires title, so it shouldn’t be too difficult for him.
“Everything is new. I need to get used to everything,” he said. “It's going to be my first time playing those tournaments in Europe. I actually played the Madrid Open last year… it's going to be new experiences. I need to adapt, of course. Of course I'm going to play my tennis – the aggressive tennis that you guys know. Now on clay. It's going to be nice. It's going to be a great experience.”
Asked if his tennis career is turning out the way he had imagined, Fonseca admitted that his success has come a bit easier than expected, but in no way does that mean that he isn’t being pushed to his limits on the dog-eat-dog ATP Tour.
“When you see on the television the tour, you see the top players just enjoying, winning all the matches,” he said. “But it's not like that. You know that there's a process, futures, challengers, then you need to pass the barrier from top 100. It's a long way to being here in the top tournaments.
“When I was young watching on the TV, I was like, I want to be there. It's going to be easy to go there. But no, it's a long way. Fortunately I passed this in a fast way, doing some great tournaments and getting in these tournaments now.”