Joao Fonseca’s team praised for making a smart decision recently as he reaches the biggest final of his career

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Joao Fonseca has been on fire this week in Basel.

The young Brazilian hadn’t been seen on the ATP Tour since the US Open, where he lost to Tomas Machac in round two.

Returning in Switzerland, Fonseca defeated Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard and Denis Shapovalov to book his place in the semifinals of the Swiss Indoors.

There, he met Spain’s Jaume Munar, who secured upset wins over Ben Shelton and Felix Auger-Aliassime on his way to the last four.

In straight sets, Fonseca defeated Munar 7-6, 7-5, to qualify for his first career ATP 500 final.

Speaking on commentary after the match, former British tennis star Barry Cowan praised Fonseca’s team for making a smart decision recently.

Barry Cowan says Joao Fonseca’s team made the right decision skipping the Asian swing

Commentating for Sky Sports, Cowan gave his verdict on Fonseca’s 2025 campaign.

“I’ve always felt it, be patient with the young players. Their form will fluctuate, but it’s not always about looking at the bad tennis; it’s looking at the great tennis,” he said.

“That’s certainly reappeared from what we saw at the start of the year from [Joao] Fonseca, and he looks fresh.”

Cowan proceeded to praise Fonseca’s team for making a brave decision regarding his schedule recently.

“I also think it was a good decision not to play in Asia,” he said.

At the time, many fans questioned Fonseca’s decision to skip the Asian swing, as the teenager missed out on several chances to add crucial points to his tally.

Reaching the final in Basel, Fonseca and his team’s decision seems to have paid off, as he looks fresh and ready to fight for the title.

Joao Fonseca wants to stay ‘hyped’ for the Basel final

During his post-match interview, Fonseca gave his assessment of his semifinal win against Munar.

“Well, I knew that it was going to be a tough match, Jaume [Munar] has been playing good on this surface. He’s volleying very good and he’s approaching the net very good,” he said.

“He puts on a lot of pressure, and you need to defend most of the time, and I don’t like to play with those guys, because I like to play aggressively and go for the winners. It was a mix of defense and attack in this match.

“He was serving really well and making his first shot after the serve really good as well.

“I just managed to stay with my serve and take the opportunities that I had. So I just played good in the tiebreak, happy with that, happy that I stayed there mentally. I’m very happy with this match, good mentality.”

Fonseca was already looking forward to the final, where he will play either Alejandro Davidovich Fokina or Ugo Humbert.

“Let’s stay hyped for the final,” he said.

“It’s been an amazing year, starting at 130 in the world and now 40-something, and playing my first ATP 500 final.

“For the first year, we focused a lot on which weeks we were going to play. We didn’t go to Asia this year, and I was a little bit sick. Here, I’m getting the opportunities.

“I’m very happy to be here, and let’s hope I can get this trophy.”

Even if Fonseca were to fail in his bid to win the title, he’d jump to a career-high ranking of 34th in the world.

However, if he were to win on Sunday, he’d rise to 28th in the world.

That would put the Brazilian in a strong position to be seeded at the 2026 Australian Open.

Only time will tell how Fonseca will deal with the pressure when he plays his first-ever ATP 500 final.

Fonseca will play in the 2025 Swiss Indoors final on Sunday, October 26.