Andy Roddick praises Joao Fonseca for already having one skill which he spent his entire career working on

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Joao Fonseca made his highly anticipated Laver Cup debut on Friday evening.

The Brazilian star was chosen to represent Team World at the 2025 Laver Cup by new captain Andre Agassi.

With Team World trailing 2-0, Fonseca stepped up to take on Flavio Cobolli of Team Europe in the third match of day one.

In straight sets, Fonseca defeated Cobolli, 6-4, 6-3, to get his team off the mark at the Laver Cup in 2025.

Speaking before the 19-year-old’s Laver Cup debut, tennis legend Andy Roddick praised Fonseca for already possessing a skill he struggled with throughout his entire career.

Andy Roddick says he was never comfortable firing ‘backhand lines’ like Joao Fonseca

During the latest episode of ‘Served’, Roddick highlighted the most impressive part of Fonseca’s game.

“[Joao] Fonseca is a talent; there is a reason why there is a hype mechanism around this kid,” he said.

“What you can’t teach is the way the ball explodes off a racket, you can’t teach ball control, you can’t teach power, lines, and cross-court.

“You can work on it. I worked on it my entire career. Everyone still knew that I wasn’t going to randomly fire backhand lines because it wasn’t something I was comfortable doing, and frankly, I wasn’t that good at it.

“Fonseca does the hardest parts well.”

Roddick did, however, point out the one problem Fonseca is currently having on the ATP Tour.

“Sometimes when you can hit a winner from any position on the court, you try to hit a winner from any position on the court,” he said.

That’s not always the best decision… although the American believes he will soon rein in his game, just like another young star did a few years back.

“He will get to the point where he doesn’t miss two balls and go down 0-30 in a game, it’s reining in his game,” said Roddick.

“It’s not dissimilar to what we’ve seen in the progression of Carlos [Alcaraz]. To where, it’s the most beautiful thing ever, because it’s like watching the most exciting rollercoaster heart-rate monitor.

“But then he plays his best tournament he’s ever played, in my opinion, at the US Open, and what was it?

“It was consistent; there weren’t these ebbs and flows, there wasn’t the random dropping of a set in the second round.”

Alcaraz only dropped the one set at Flushing Meadows to his big rival Jannik Sinner in the final.

Whether Fonseca can follow in his footsteps and enjoy Grand Slam success of his own remains to be seen, but you wouldn’t want to bet against it.

Andre Agassi might be saving Joao Fonseca to play Carlos Alcaraz on the final day

After winning his opening match in straight sets, Fonseca won’t return to play on day two of the Laver Cup.

Day two line-up

• 1. Alexander Zverev vs Alex de Minaur
• 2. Holger Rune vs Francisco Cerundolo
• 3. Carlos Alcaraz vs Taylor Fritz
• 4. Holger Rune/Casper Ruud vs Alex de Minaur/Alex Michelsen

Therefore, he is likely to compete on the final day, potentially against the world number one, Alcaraz.

Alcaraz and Fonseca have yet to play one another on the ATP Tour, as the fans in San Francisco could witness the first-ever dream match between the pair.

The Spaniard would unsurprisingly head into the match as a heavy favorite, although Fonseca has had no trouble causing upsets in 2025.

Yet to break into the top 40, Fonseca has already picked up seven top-30 wins this year, and would no doubt love to score another against Alcaraz.

Only time will tell if Alcaraz and Fonseca will face off for the first time at the Laver Cup, although the Spaniard won’t want to get too far ahead of himself, as he now focuses on playing Taylor Fritz on day two.