Fresh from wining his maiden ATP title last Sunday in Buenos Aires to become the youngest Brazilian to lift an ATP Tour trophy, 18-year-old João Fonseca is already attracting a crowd to Jockey Club Brasileiro even before his debut at the Rio Open.
Hundreds of fans gathered this Monday to watch the youngest practice before his first round match against Frenchman Alexandre Muller.
“Things are quite different now if you compare from last year. I know that things happened really fast in my career but I think last year’s João would never believe that he could go so far so fast. Obviously I always believed I could get to where I am today but never this soon”, said Fonseca, the reining champion of the Next Gen Finals.
“I'm really happy with all that I achieved so far but I had no clue that I had gone viral after my campaign at the Australian Open”, said the Brazilian referring to his win over then number nine in the world Andrey Rublev at the first round of the Grand Slam.
“This is the first time that I got a feeling of how things have changed and that only makes me even prouder of my achievements. I’m happy to see kids looking up to me and that only makes me stronger and hungrier”, added Fonseca, who plays on the second match of the night session at Court Guga Kuerten this Tuesday,
It was at this same court that the rising star earned his 1st ATP Tour wins last year, defeating number 36 Arthur Fils and number 88 Cristian Garin as a wild card.
Hundreds of fans gathered this Monday to watch the youngest practice before his first round match against Frenchman Alexandre Muller.
“Things are quite different now if you compare from last year. I know that things happened really fast in my career but I think last year’s João would never believe that he could go so far so fast. Obviously I always believed I could get to where I am today but never this soon”, said Fonseca, the reining champion of the Next Gen Finals.
“I'm really happy with all that I achieved so far but I had no clue that I had gone viral after my campaign at the Australian Open”, said the Brazilian referring to his win over then number nine in the world Andrey Rublev at the first round of the Grand Slam.
“This is the first time that I got a feeling of how things have changed and that only makes me even prouder of my achievements. I’m happy to see kids looking up to me and that only makes me stronger and hungrier”, added Fonseca, who plays on the second match of the night session at Court Guga Kuerten this Tuesday,
It was at this same court that the rising star earned his 1st ATP Tour wins last year, defeating number 36 Arthur Fils and number 88 Cristian Garin as a wild card.
