Joao Fonseca didn’t just hit No. 9 seeds norrey rublev in 2025 in Australia open. The 18-year-old rublev comes to the court in straight sets.
Combined with the applegen atp finals triumph only a few weeks earlier, those results catapulted Fonseca’s expectations into a different stratosphere. When would he soon be a top-10 player? One year after the next win, he would have been there Nitto ATP Finals this time?
It turns out that those kinds of ideas are predicted by aesthetic assumptions.
At any time in the professional journey it should be for any young person, Fonseca’s 2025 campaign was a rocky ride. Bumps began immediately after his victory in the rublev, as the Brazilian lost his next game in Lorenzo Sonego – five piles in the Aussie opened in the second round. But the hype train was easy to lose steam. Fonseca won his next tournament, capturing his first ATP title in the 250-point tournament on the red clay of Buenos Aires.
After leaving Buenos Aires with the trophy, Fonseca was completely mediocre from mid-February to summer. Of his next 25 matches, he won 12 and lost 13.
Fonseca, who recently announced that he will not defend his OXTNEN AP Finals title, has made it a point to inform them of his time with the ATP 500 title in Basel at the end of October. That moved him from 46th in the majors to 28th, and he currently registers in the 24th position.
Was it perfect? No. The first six rounds of the round people were a lot, especially since half of them came against low-level opponents. But such inconsistencies can be forgiven for any youngster – even one of Fonseca’s prodigious talents. Was it a smashing success? Of course. He is the youngest open player to win an ATP 500 title and the youngest since 2011 to reach the Wimbledon Round.
Now for some comparison. Fonseca’s youngest player is 182 (Justin Engel); There is only one other teenager who scores better than 135 (No. 28 student Tien). Jannik Sonner finished his 19-year-old season with one ATP 250 title and 44th position. When Roger Federer was the same age as he is now, the Swiss had zero atp titles and the same ranking of Novak. Just after the switch on 19 (May 2006), Djokovic won the first two ATP titles of his career and broke into the top 30 for the first time. Yes, the Spanish Duo of Rafael Nadal and Carlos Alcaraz were in front of that people around 19 – but those things are not wide-a-tennis-generation by generation.
If not ia-plus, it was fonseca’s season basically anyone and everyone’s standards. And it sets the stage for what should be makulyu 2026. In No. 24 in the world, Fonseca is only at the Australian open but it would also allow him a top 24 – which would allow him a top-eight opponent. He should be seeded in almost every event he enters, ensuring a good draw and setting him up for success week after week.
The ATP Tour could really use another Slam-Winning star to turn the top of the line into this next generation’s greatest. Fonseca has the opportunity to be that person. Asking him to be that monster right there The next one The season would have been on par by asking him to make nitto atp finals after just opening 19. It makes no sense.
But the top 10, and maybe even the heat, is not out of the question. That – and a Grand Slam Quarterfinal or selifinal breakthrough – is what to expect from Fonseca in 2026.
