Djokovic mentions Fonseca: "He has the potential to become a superstar"

Adrien Guyot

le 07/03/2025 à 14h15

2 min to read

Djokovic Fonseca Indian Wells

One of the players to watch in the coming months on the ATP Tour is João Fonseca. The 18-year-old Brazilian made a stunning entry into the top 100 after defeating Andrey Rublev, a top-10 player, in the first round of the Australian Open.

Following this, Fonseca made an impression by winning his very first title on the main tour at the ATP 250 tournament in Buenos Aires, where he defeated Francisco Cerundolo to etch his name into the record books in Argentina, during his 9th professional tournament.

Ranked 68th in the world in February, Fonseca won his second match in the Masters 1000 at Indian Wells against Jacob Fearnley (6-2, 1-6, 6-3) and will face Jack Draper for a spot in the third round. During a pre-tournament press conference in California, Novak Djokovic praised the progress of the young Brazilian player.

"When you're so young and playing at a high level, it's a good feeling because there's not much to lose and a lot to gain. The attention from people and the support, all of that builds up and contributes to the player's development.

His personality will eventually reach a stage where he will have more pressure and higher expectations for himself, from others, and so on. João seems to handle all of that very well.

I don't know him personally, but from what I've seen of him on the court, not just in terms of how he plays, but also how he carries himself and the people around him, there seems to be a very good balance.

Professionalism and dedication, as we've seen over the past two years with Alcaraz. He has the potential to become a superstar in this sport. There's no doubt about that.

He also comes from Brazil, one of the biggest countries in the world, where they love tennis, they love this sport, they are very passionate people," said the Serbian legend.