By Martyn Herman
LONDON (Reuters) -Brazil’s Joao Fonseca will be back, there is not much doubt about that, but for now the 18-year-old says he still has a few things to learn to make himself a force at Wimbledon.
The golden boy from Rio de Janeiro, slated as the next big thing in men’s tennis, marked his first Wimbledon foray by a run to the third round but was then stopped by Chile’s Nicolas Jarry.
Despite a 6-3 6-4 3-6 7-6(4) defeat on Court Two, where he enjoyed plenty of support, Fonseca showed flashes of the powerful shot-making that has got everyone so excited.
After being overpowered in the opening two sets, Fonseca sparked into life and seemed on the verge of turning around the match but could not convert any of the six break points that came his way and went on to lose the tiebreak.
“For sure a lot of lessons. When you go to a Grand Slam and play, the players play differently. They are much more focused,” Fonseca said. “It’s a five-set match, and everything can happen.
“You can have two sets up and then you can still lose the match. So you need to stay focused all the time and positive.”
For a player seemingly made for big stages, it was a shame that he missed a likely Centre Court clash with Britain’s Cameron Norrie on Sunday. But Fonseca preferred to take the positives.
“Of course, a little frustration,” he told reporters. “I had the opportunity and I probably would have been playing better in the fifth set, I was feeling confident.
“But at the same time I’m still young and a lot to come. We’re going to be back next year. Just take the learnings, keep working and let’s go for it.
Fonseca made his Grand Slam main draw debut only at this year’s Australian Open, knocking out Russian seed Andrey Rublev in the opening round. He then reached the third round of the French Open and repeated that feat in London.
Not a bad way to start his Grand Slam story and he is already looking forward to the U.S. Open where he will receive noisy support from the large Brazilian population in New York.
“For me it’s a privilege when you have your country supporting you, and you feel like you represent your country,” he said. “It’s super nice because we don’t have that much of a following in Brazil. I know for sure there’s going to be a lot in New York. It’s going to be nice.”
(Reporting by Martyn Herman; editing by Clare Fallon)
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