João Fonseca (tennis)

João Fonseca (born 21 August 2006) is a Brazilian professional tennis player. Fonseca has a career high ATP singles ranking of 343 achieved on 26 February 2024. He also has a career high ATP doubles ranking of 431 achieved on 26 February 2024.

Career

2023: First Brazilian Junior world No. 1, ATP debut

Fonseca reached the final of the 2023 Australian Open – Boys' doubles tournament with Alexander Blockx, João Fonseca became the Junior champion of the 2023 US Open - Boys' singles tournament with a victory over Learner Tien in the final.

Fonseca was the 2023 world champion of the Junior circuit. At 17 years old, he was the first Brazilian to finish the season as No. 1 in the junior rankings.

He made his ATP debut at the 2023 Rio Open after receiving a wildcard for the singles main draw and also appeared in the doubles main draw, entering as lucky losers with Mateus Alves.

2024: First ATP wins & quarterfinal, top 350 & turning pro at 17 years old

In January 2024, the 17-year-old Rio native reached the semifinals of the Buenos Aires Challenger, his first in his career in this type of tournament. Until then, Fonseca had reached the quarterfinals in two challengers, the first in 2022 in São Leopoldo and the most recent in 2023, in Florianópolis.

Ranked No. 655, he made a second appearance in the main draw at the 2024 Rio Open after receiving a wildcard in singles and also in doubles qualifying with Marcelo Zormann. He recorded his first ATP and first ATP 500 win over seventh seed Arthur Fils in straight sets, giving away only four games. Excluding the Davis Cup, he became the first South American to claim an opening set 6-0 against an ATP top 50-ranked opponent before turning 18, since the ATP rankings were first published in 1973. He also became the first player born in 2006 to win an ATP Tour match. Next, he defeated Cristian Garin in straight sets to reach his first ATP quarterfinal. As a result he moved 300 positions up, making him the youngest player in the top 350 in the rankings. He became the second youngest ATP 500 quarterfinalist since the series began in 2009 and the first since Alexander Zverev made the last eight in Hamburg in 2014.
Days after the end of his run in Rio, Fonseca was rewarded with a second consecutive ATP Tour tournament wildcard at the 2024 Chile Open.

Later that week, he officially announced his decision to fully turn pro, forgoing his eligibility to play college tennis and ending his commitment to the University of Virginia.

Junior Grand Slam finals

Singles: 1 (1 winner)

Doubles: 1 (1 runner-up)

Equipment

João Fonseca plays a Yonex VCORE 95, strung with Yonex Poly Tour Strike 1.25/1.20 at tensions of 50 lbs for the mains and 48 lbs for the crosses. This equipment choice reflects his preference for precision and powerful groundstrokes on the court.

Endorsements

In 2023, the then-16-year-old Fonseca was signed by On, a sportswear company partly owned by Roger Federer. He was announced alongside Iga Świątek and Ben Shelton as one of the first three tennis players to be sponsored by the brand.

References

External links

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2006 births
Living people
Brazilian male tennis players

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