Although Brazilian wonderkid Joao Fonseca has been the talk of the short ATP season so far, former World No.2 Alexander Zverev has asked for patience when evaluating the teenager’s potential.
Fonseca burst onto the tennis scene after winning the Next Gen ATP Finals in Jeddah last December, and recorded one of the biggest wins of his career by defeating ninth seed Andrey Rublev at the Australian Open last month. Subsequently, the 18-year old would win his maiden ATP title at the Argentina Open a few weeks later, setting the entire ATP circuit on notice.
Zverev believes Fonseca will eventually rise to the top
The Rio native got the opportunity to play in front of his home crowd at the 2025 Rio Open this week. However, he fell in his opening round match against Frenchman Alexandre Muller. Nonetheless, the future seems bright for the rising star.
Zverev, who is the top seed in Rio, was asked about Fonseca’s potential following the German’s 7-6(1) 7-6(6) round of 16 victory over Ukrainian Alexander Shevchenko.
“I really like the kid,” admitted Zverev. “Both as a player and as a person. He will be a top 10 and top 5 player for sure but that won’t happen now or tomorrow. Things take time.”
The World No.2 will take on Argentine Francisco Comesana in the quarterfinals on Friday.
Be the first to comment