Brazilian teen Joao Fonseca brings potential and a party atmosphere to his NBO debut

Open this photo in gallery: Joao Fonseca celebrates after winning his second-round match at Wimbledon against Jenson Brooksby. Fonseca will make his National Bank Open debut on Monday in Toronto.HENRY NICHOLLS/AFP/Getty Images

Joao Fonseca, the 18-year-old Brazilian who is enjoying a meteoric rise and is projected to be the ATP Tour’s next superstar, is set to make his National Bank Open debut on Monday.

Tennis fans in Toronto will get their first up-close look at the breakout teenager who has been drawing crowds wherever he plays during his first year on Tour.

The weekend provided glimpses of his budding popularity, as healthy crowds watched his practices at Sobey’s Stadium and hollered for the Brazilian afterward to sign autographs. On Monday afternoon, he’ll play the second match on centre court, against Australia’s Tristan Schoolkate. Some are already speeding ahead in the draw and imagining a potential third-round meeting with top-seed World No. 3 Alexander Zverev in just a few days.

Fonseca’s fans are frequently loud and they chant his name – many wearing yellow and waving Brazilian flags. At some tournaments, like Roland Garros, the queues to get a seat where he was competing wound their way around the grounds. That vociferous, singing soccer-like style of support is not typical during pro-tennis matches, but with his quick ascent over the past year, it’s becoming a thing.

“When I’m on court and they’re cheering for me, calling my name it’s just super nice and even makes me have some goosebumps,” Fonseca told The Globe and Mail last week, during a video interview from his family home in Rio before he travelled to Canada.

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“Brazilian people, when they see something promising, they go full power, they just cheer a lot,” he added. “I see it everywhere. Even in Chicago playing a Challenger, there were Brazilians there and they’re loud. Even 10 Brazilians could be loud.”

On the wall behind Fonseca during this video interview, there were souvenirs of what the wavy-haired teenager has already accomplished. His mom had framed and hung each of the shirts he wore while winning the Next Generation ATP Finals, his first Challenger title and his first title on the ATP Tour earlier this year in Buenos Aires.

“I said ‘Mom, I think I’m going to need a bigger wall,’” he said.

Fonseca arrives in Toronto ranked No. 47, having climbed nearly 100 spots since the end of 2024 with some impressive results this year. He triggered the hype machine at the Australian Open – his first-ever main draw appearance at a Grand Slam – when he upset then-No. 9 Andrey Rublev. The teen’s first Tour title came a month later, where he had to beat four Argentines in Argentina. Then he made the third round at both Roland Garros and Wimbledon.

Open this photo in gallery: Fonseca, seen here signing autographs after a match at Wimbledon, has a loyal and supportive fan base, despite his early arrival on the pro tour.HENRY NICHOLLS/AFP/Getty Images

He had large crowds in Rio and Madrid. There was a wild day at the Miami Open, where a massive throng gathered to watch him, including many Brazilians. Fans already filled the grandstand court where he was scheduled to play during the prior match. When organizers saw thousands more queuing for Fonseca outside the grandstand, they decided to move the youngster’s match to centre court.

Fans flooded quickly out of the grandstand while one of the world’s top players – Jack Draper – was mid-match, to go claim seats at centre courts and await Fonseca. Karl Hale, Toronto’s National Bank Open tournament director, was in Miami that day and witnessed it.

“I’d never seen anything like that in tennis ever in my life, there was like 1,000 or 2,000 people with Brazilian jerseys and flags chanting, singing the national anthem, going crazy for a player who’s 18 and was ranked at the time 70th,” said Hale.

“He’s an unbelievable talent, top 10 player for sure, a likely No. 1 at some point.”

In 2024, Fonseca went 5-0 when he won the Next Gen ATP Finals, joining Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner as the only 18-year-old champs in the event’s history.

Brazil hasn’t had a player this exciting since Gustavo (Guga) Kuerten, who had been World No. 1 and won the French Open in 1997, 2000 and 2001.

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Fonseca, polite and friendly, seems to be taking the big expectations, added attention and media requests in stride.

“Those expectations are good, because people believe in me,” said Fonseca.

“But at the same time, they make a lot of [comparisons] like, ‘He’s going to be the next Alcaraz or the next Sinner,’ and I mean, I’m just going to be Joao. Time is going to say if I can do it or not. But I can say that I’m dreaming and working a lot to be a great player.”

After catching just a few minutes of Fonseca’s win over Rublev in Melbourne, Alcaraz said: “We are going to put Joao Fonseca’s name on the list of the best players in the world very soon.”

Fonseca took up tennis at four years old. He grew up in Rio, near the Rio de Janeiro Country Club, where he played on the clay courts. Raised just minutes from the site of the ATP’s Rio Open, he attended as a fan.

He was active in many things as a boy, including kite surfing and soccer (“because every Brazilian plays soccer,” he says with a laugh). By age 11, he was a good enough a soccer player to compete up with 13-year-olds, but he suffered some injuries on the pitch, which caused him to prioritize tennis instead.

At 17, he’d won the boys’ singles title at the 2023 U.S. Open. Fonseca was named the 2023 world champion of the ITF Junior circuit and finished the season as No. 1 in the junior rankings. He was invited to the 2023 ATP Finals as a hitting partner, where he practised with top players such as Daniil Medvedev, Alcaraz and Sinner.

After that 2023 hitting session with Sinner, the Italian stopped Fonseca in the locker room and asked about whether he planned to play NCAA tennis at a U.S. college or turn pro.

“I said, ‘I don’t know, I’m still deciding,’” Fonseca recalled. “And Sinner said to me, ‘Man, you’re too good. Don’t go to college.’ That was a fun story and a great compliment from a great guy.”

Fonseca doesn’t have an agent (not that many haven’t come calling). Instead he relies on his parents – his father, Christiano, is the CEO and founder of an independent hedge fund in Brazil – to fill that role.

He will be the youngest-ever player to compete at the Laver Cup this fall, as captain Andre Agassi chose him for Team World alongside U.S. stars Ben Shelton, Tommy Paul and Taylor Fritz.

The whole story leads to the excitement in Toronto this week.

“I was born on clay, but I have a style more of hard-court, and hopefully in the future, I’ll be good in grass, too,” Fonseca said.

“I’m aggressive on court, but at the same time I’m super calm, like a vibe person, just a guy who likes to be with my family.”

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