Fonseca vows to keep improving on grass after Wimbledon exit, with home comforts next

Joao Fonseca refused to hang his head after a chastening Wimbledon exit, insisting his grass-court game is still on an upward curve even as a qualifier ended his tournament in the third round.

The 19-year-old Brazilian, seeded 24th, was beaten 6-3, 6-3, 6-3 by Roman Safiullin, the world No. 132 who had already knocked out Andrey Rublev on his run through the draw. Fonseca declined to accept the scoreline as a verdict on his own level. “I don’t think it was all my fault,” he said, crediting an opponent who dictated from the first ball. “He was playing very aggressive, going for the shots, going for the net. He was courage in the important points.”

The breaking points were where the match slipped away, and Fonseca knew it. “He did pretty well in the break points,” he said. “He served with a lot of body serves, and I couldn’t produce very much with the ball today.” Safiullin saved every break point he faced and was never taken to a set point.

Next stop : Rio

For all the disappointment, Fonseca framed the fortnight as another rung climbed on his least familiar surface. He has played barely a dozen tour-level matches on grass, and sees steady progress rather than a ceiling. “Each year I’m improving more, but still a lot to improve, for sure,” he said. He pointed to the adjustment the surface demands, and his own belief in where it can lead. “I think I have the skills to play good on it,” Fonseca said. “Hopefully one day it will be my best surface.”

The defeat matched his third-round finish of a year ago and denied him ranking points to defend, a blip in a breakthrough season that included a quarter-final at Roland-Garros, his best Grand Slam result to date. He was clear about what comes next, and it involves rest before the reset. “I’ll go back home, take some days off and recover, and go again,” he said.

Home is where the schedule now takes him. Fonseca is set to headline UTS Rio presented by XP, the event staged in his native city, where the noise and the crowd will be firmly on his side after a quiet fortnight in southwest London.

After a grass season spent learning on the move, a return to familiar surroundings – and a surface, hard indoors, that flatters his explosive game far more than the lawns – should feel like relief.