João Fonseca’s grass education is only just beginning – and it is already bearing fruit

For a player who grew up on the clay of Rio de Janeiro, João Fonseca is adapting to grass faster than anyone expected. The 19-year-old Brazilian, seeded 24th at Wimbledon, opened his campaign with a composed 7-6, 6-4, 6-3 win over the vastly experienced Roberto Bautista Agut – recovering from 0-3 down in the first-set tiebreak to take command.

Wimbledon is also a staging post before a homecoming. When the grass season ends, Fonseca returns to the city where he first picked up a racquet to make his UTS debut at UTS Rio presented by XP, at the iconic Maracanãzinho from 16 to 18 July. Seeded No. 2 as “The Rocket,” he opens against Tallon Griekspoor before a box-office clash with Nick Kyrgios.

Brazilian fans can now celebrate a player who changed status earlier this season. At Roland-Garros, Fonseca came from two sets down to beat Novak Djokovic in a 4-hour, 53-minute epic, becoming the first teenager ever to defeat the 24-time major champion at a Slam, before reaching his maiden Grand Slam quarter-final. The grass, he admits, has been a different puzzle – one he is learning to solve.

Fonseca : “If the ball eats you, you can’t produce power”

“Each year I’m trying to understand more,” Fonseca said, describing the surface in a phrase borrowed from Portuguese: “If the ball eats you, you can’t produce power, you always need to get to the ball first.” Serve, return and movement, he says, are the keys, and he has studied the way champions glide across it. “Not many players can slide on grass,” he noted, singling out Jannik Sinner.

His inspiration runs deeper than technique. Fonseca cites Rafael Nadal – “talent combined with hard work” – as the model that reshaped his teenage years. “When I was 13 or 14, I started understanding that combining the two, I’d achieve things much faster,” he said. “When you have 24 Grand Slams and you’re still playing for love, that’s an inspiration.”

Ranked No. 27 and rising, the leader of Brazilian tennis is thinking long term. “Hopefully for the next 15 years,” he said, “I’ll adapt the way I want with my team.” At Wimbledon, that adaptation is well under way.