If you only looked at his ranking and results, you could fool yourself into thinking that Joao Fonseca is your average guy sitting outside the top 30. And he is, in fact, ranked 32nd in the world. He also has a couple of titles from 2025. It’s certainly nothing compared to, say, Rafael Nadal’s breakthrough year — when Nadal won 11 titles.
But make no mistake, there is nothing average about Fonseca. He’s a little something we like to call a phenomenon.
Why, you ask? Well, to understand that, I have to set the stage for you. The first fact you need to know is that Fonseca is Brazilian. And Brazilians LOVE their professional athletes and follow them with passionate and vocal enthusiasm. But, more to the point, there hasn’t been a bona fide Brazilian star since the turn of the century — and that’s not a euphemism, either. Gustavo Kuerten, the sunshiniest player to ever step on a tennis court, was in his prime in the early naughts. He pocketed three French Open titles and won a spot in the hearts of tennis fans the world over.
When Guga retired, he took Brazilian tennis superstardom with him…and it’s been a looonggg 25 years. Enter Joao Fonseca. Now, there are some pundits who are Fonseca skeptics (Fonsekptics? Skeptifons?). And in their defense, I must admit that thus far his popularity has outpaced his production. Still, this teenager is nothing but upside and MUST be taken seriously as a major draw.
He’s talented, he’s personable, and he’s already proven that he can command a crowd. Which leads me to an unexpected place — a respectful critique of tournament organizers.
Last year, the Brazilian wunderkind played his first Miami Open. Organizers BADLY underestimated Fonseca’s popularity and scheduled him on the Grandstand rather than in the main stadium. Enthusiastic fans, all of whom clearly anticipated the crowd situation with far more accuracy than the tournament did, got to the Grandstand hours before Fonseca was scheduled to stake their seat on the general admission court.
Then the Miami officials set off a series of unfortunate events.
They moved Fonseca and Ugo Humbert to the stadium court — presumably to give more fans the chance to see him. The issue is that switching a highly anticipated match from a “grounds pass” court to a ticketed court introduces all kinds of problems:
1. The fans that took the schedule at face value burned all day watching matches they may or may not have cared about.
2. The court change was announced during the match that was on the Grandstand prior to Fonseca’s, featuring Jack Draper and Jakub Mensik.
3. Fans IMMEDIATELY started booing and filing out of the stadium, causing a significant match delay. It was REMARKABLY unfair to Mensik and Draper, who stood around for over five minutes while angry fans…expressed themselves.
4. People who have grounds passes don’t always have stadium tickets.
5. Oops.
Don’t get me wrong, Miami was the first to deal with the Fonseca Phenomenon, so it’s understandable (sort of) that they played it wrong. But tournaments CONTINUE to make the same mistake. The U.S. Open also put Fonseca on the Grandstand rather than taking advantage of the 145,152 seats in Ashe — a match I was lucky to get a seat at:
And now the Australian Open has put Fonseca and opponent Eliot Spizzirri on an outside court. 1573 Arena — formally known as “Show Court 2” — has a seating capacity of 3,000. As a comparison, the Grandstand at the U.S. Open has just over 8,000 seats. Fonseca filled every one of them.
I’m not usually one to wag my finger, but come ON. At this point we all know the fans are going to show up for Fonseca. No reason to let the circus roll into town when a little anticipation can easily resolve the situation.
agreed with Cheryl
also how about Eala on Court SIX?!?!?