Joao Fonseca clinched the biggest win of his career at Roland Garros on Friday, overcoming Novak Djokovic in a five-set thriller.
The Brazilian, who has been tipped as the next big star in tennis over the past year, came back from two sets down to beat Djokovic and put an end to potentially the best chance the Serb will get at securing a 25th major.
Fonseca won 4-6, 4-6, 6-3, 7-5, 7-5, and the result guaranteed that men’s tennis will have a new Grand Slam champion.
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Aged 19, he also became the first teenager to both beat Djokovic at a major and to claim multiple wins from 2-0 down at a Grand Slam, following his comeback triumph over Dino Prizmic in round two.
Reacting to the match, former US Open champion Andy Roddick claimed Fonseca executed one thing ‘perfectly’.
Andy Roddick reacts to Joao Fonseca’s win over Novak Djokovic
Speaking in an episode of ‘Served‘, Roddick said: “I know Novak was a little tired, but 70 winners, 39 unforced errors, 71% first serves. Novak played well. Fonseca beat him.
“It’s the best I’ve ever seen him play on the biggest stage that he’s probably been on. Right? Like, I don’t know that we’ve had this moment, and someone kind of rise to that moment. You hope this is the first of many for Fonseca.
“Because one, 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. Yeah.
“No notes. Anything, 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 the moment perfectly.
Where do you think Joao Fonseca will be ranked at the end of the 2026 season?
“He engaged the crowd, he used him 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 gonna go out… There was none of that. It was, like, as hard as you can see two guys compete.
“Different moments of their careers. One, grinding for that first big signature win after a couple years of hype, where we’re surprised to see a 28 next to his name here. Like, we thought that was gonna be an eight or a three or a five. Right?
“And then against the guy who’s trying to hang on, Sinner loses, can I squeak out just one more? Opposite ends of the spectrum, but you know what is the unifier in sports is, is common ground of struggle. Right?
“The struggle for Fonseca trying to break through is different than the struggle for Novak against his body at this point.
“And to see those things overlay and the greatness of Novak shine through, and then, like, that first glimpse into, like, big greatness for Fonseca was on display today. He was great today.”
Joao Fonseca’s next opponent at Roland Garros
Fonseca is through to the fourth round of a Grand Slam for the first time in his career, and now he will face another very difficult assignment in the form of Casper Ruud.
Ruud, a clay-court specialist, is a two-time runner-up at Roland Garros, having reached the championship match in 2022 and 2023.
The Norwegian, like Fonseca, also had to come back from two sets down to reach the fourth round, having defeated Tommy Paul in a marathon match on Friday.
Fonseca and Ruud have never faced each other at an ATP Tour-level event, and will now clash for the first time for a spot in the quarterfinals of the French Open.
The winner of Fonseca versus Ruud will go on to play either Andrey Rublev or Jakub Mensik in the last eight.
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