Tennis YouTuber reacts after receiving wildcard for ATP tournament where Alexander Zverev is playing

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The Rio Open is set to feature a strong lineup once again as clay court tennis gets underway for the 2025 season.

Alexander Zverev has faced a setback ahead of his first appearance at tournaments in Buenos Aires and Rio de Janeiro.

This will be the German’s first tournament since the Australian Open, where Zverev lost to Jannik Sinner in the final.

After losing three Grand Slam finals, Zverev’s best chance is believed to be Roland Garros, and he has decided to get some early clay court practice in for the 2025 season.

Zverev will be joined by the likes of Holger Rune, Lorenzo Musetti and Alejandro Tabilo, with wildcards for the ATP 500 tournament also featuring a teenage sensation and a social media star.

Karue Sell reacts after receiving wildcard for Rio Open qualifying

Joao Fonseca created headlines at the Australian Open after beating top 10 player Andrey Rublev in the first round.

Following his senior Grand Slam debut, the 18-year-old has been awarded a wildcard for his home tournament in the Brazilian capital.

Fonseca made his debut at the Rio Open in 2023, but won his first match at the tournament last year against Arthur Fils before going on to reach the quarter-finals.

The world number 99 is one of three main draw wildcards to have been awarded alongside Thiago Monteiro and Felipe Meligeni Alves.

There have also been wildcards awarded for the qualifying draw, with Brazilian players Gustavo Heide, Joao Lucas Reis da Silva and Karue Sell the recipients.

Sell climbed from world number 858 to a career-high of 258 last year, and often documents his tennis career to 159,000 YouTube subscribers.

When reacting to his wildcard, Sell reflected on his journey that included taking a four year break from professional tennis between 2019 and 2023.

“From coaching, to YouTuber, to playing a 15k in Tunisia to get points again and now playing my first ATP 500. Was not on anyone’s bingo card (laughing face emoji),” the 31-year-old said on X (formerly known as Twitter). “Muito obrigado (Thank you very much) @RioOpenOficial.”

Former champions of the Rio Open

The Rio Open often attracts big crowds and has seen some high calibre champions since its first edition was held in 2014.

Rafael Nadal, who retired last year, won the inaugural edition of the Rio Open after beating Alexandr Dolgopolov to win one of his 63 clay court titles.

More recently it has seen Carlos Alcaraz, who chose to miss the Rio Open this year, lift the title and reach the final in the following year.

The main draw of the Rio Open will get underway on Monday February 17, with Sell featuring in qualifying in the days prior.