Joao Fonseca still has some improvements to make to his game after his Indian Wells exit.
Fonseca is thought to be a potential challenger to Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner, but he had only won one match going into Indian Wells this year.
The Brazilian began to show form in California, with Fonseca reaching the fourth round of Indian Wells after beating the likes of Tommy Paul and Karen Khachanov.
Fonseca’s run was ended by Sinner, and Brad Gilbert believes that the 19-year-old has a very similar issue to what the Italian did earlier on in his career.
Brad Gilbert highlights area of Joao Fonseca’s game that needs to improve
Gilbert has coached multiple top players on both the ATP and WTA Tours, including Coco Gauff, Andy Murray and Andre Agassi.
When discussing Fonseca’s Indian Wells run on The Big T Podcast, Gilbert claimed that the biggest thing the Brazilian teenager needs to improve is increasing the amount of variety he has in his game, which is also an issue that Sinner had earlier on in his career.
Which Grand Slam title would you like to see Joao Fonseca win?
“So the biggest thing that he needs to improve… it comes down to a willingness to have a little variety in his game,” said Gilbert. “Because, whether or not he’s playing Sinner or he’s playing somebody ranked 100, he’s trying to go through you.
“And I also feel like his ball, a little bit what Darren Cahill said Sinner’s problem was, early in his career, he gave players too good of a rhythm because he played one speed.
“So he needs to learn to have more variety, and I feel like his quickness is a little better than he thinks it is, and he’s always trying to pull the trigger, and he’s trying to go through guys.
“And when you play somebody ranked 75 in the world, you don’t need to go through everybody. And then that’s how he loses some players. Variety and willingness, I think that he’ll improve immensely.”
Where would Joao Fonseca be ranked based on 2026 so far?
Although Fonseca has enjoyed a positive week at Indian Wells, it has still been a slow start to the season for him.
After struggling with a back injury at the start of the year, Fonseca lost in the first round of a Grand Slam at the Australian Open in January.
Fonseca has won only four of his eight singles matches so far this year, and is therefore 100th in the live race to the ATP Finals.
This means that from his results so far this year, Fonseca would be only just ranked inside the top 100, which is significantly lower than his real ranking of world number 35.
Where do you think Joao Fonseca will be ranked at the end of the 2026 season?
Fonseca, who did win a doubles title at the Rio Open, will hope to continue his singles resurgence at his next tournament of the Miami Open.
In his debut appearance at the Miami Open last year, Fonseca reached the third round and he will hope to go even further when he returns to Florida next week.
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