Joao Fonseca has, perhaps surprisingly, been a polarising figure amongst many tennis fans.
Naturally, the Brazilian masses have passionately supported their new hero, as they seek to anoint the heir apparent to three-time Grand Slam winner, Gustavo ‘Guga’ Kuerten.
Whenever the 19-year-old plays, his compatriots come out in force, creating an atmosphere akin to football fans. This, however, has rubbed some tennis followers up the wrong way.
In the teenager’s loss to Hamad Medjedovic in Rome, the Serbian repeatedly complained about the constant interruptions from the Brazilian crowd. Following that defeat, Fonseca himself called for a bit more moderation.
He said, “Too many interruptions. I’m not going to say that was the reason for the loss, because it wasn’t. But the crowd really matters; Brazilian fans sometimes think it’s a football match. I love the crowd, but there has to be a small limit.”
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But some tennis observers would say Fonseca is happy to stoke the crowd when it suits him. Regardless, fast forward to his remarkable five-set comeback win over Novak Djokovic at the French Open, Andy Roddick believes he got it just right.
On the latest episode of Served, the American said, “You hope this is the first of many for Fonseca. It’s a fine line for a young player to engage the crowd without being disrespectful or showing up someone as great as Novak. He hit it perfectly.
“No notes, anything he did to the crowd, notice he was pretty much always facing away from Novak. And it was a hand, not a bit. He handled it the moment perfectly. He engaged the crowd.
“He used them when he needed to, but there was nothing that was even close to friction between these two. Like zero, there was no one-upping. I don’t care who this guy is. I’m going to go out. There was none of that.”
In round two, Fonseca came from two sets down to beat 20-year-old Dino Prizmic. After the match, footage showed how the Brazilian broke down with his team, as the significance of this victory truly sunk in.
To Roddick, that is the sign of a player trying to handle the weight of expectation thrusted upon his shoulders. At the time of writing, the teenager is 29th in the world following his Djokovic triumph.
But the fact that Fonseca pulled off another comeback five-set win, this time against a 24-time major winner no less, speaks volumes about his pedigree. And according to the former US Open winner, the Rio de Janeiro native is more than capable of winning a Grand Slam one day.
“The emotion he showed after the Prizmic match and then he kept it together today (Friday),” said Roddick. “They had a locker room camera and he goes and hugs his team and he melts, like emotional to me.
“I feel like that’s expectation coming out. Like if we’re saying you should be higher, there’s no chance that he’s not going, ‘I know everyone thinks that should be higher’.
“Can he come and do it again? I mean, I don’t know. We’ll see what the rest of it is, but for today, that was a glimpse at potential greatness in the future.
“If he can do that when he’s expected to win consistently, right. Do that against someone who’s trying to take his lunch as opposed to trying to take Novak’s lunch. Then we have a future grand slam champion in our hands.
“And in my opinion, today was the first time where I think it wasn’t like you were looking at him and saying he has the shots and the speed of shot to be a grand slam champion. He actually looked the part fully today, mentally, physically, everything, well-deserved.”
GO FURTHER: Joao Fonseca helps make Open Era history with Roland Garros victory against Novak Djokovic