You won’t believe what sets Novak Djokovic and Casper Ruud matches apart — Joao Fonseca spills all

Joao Fonseca reflects on facing Novak Djokovic and Casper Ruud

Looking back on both matches, Fonseca noted the contrast: “The matches were different against Casper and Djokovic. Against Djokovic, it was more mental. It was tough in the beginning; the conditions were different, much hotter. Against a guy I respect a lot, I started playing to respect a lot.”

“Not that I don’t respect Casper, it’s just that I was feeling more confident in today’s match and more aggressive, going for the shots and trying to command on the point pretty soon. It was more like a battle of who is more aggressive in the beginning and who is commanding more on the points.”

“I think in the beginning I was putting a lot of pressure on him, and especially on the important points, I played really well. I think they were different matches, but today I played a bit more solid throughout the whole match.”

Fonseca has shown remarkable composure for someone so early in their career. Still just 19 years old, he opened his Roland Garros campaign with wins over Luka Pavlovic and Dino Prizmic before making headlines with his victories over two of the tournament’s top names.

Joao Fonseca draws inspiration from ATP’s emerging talent

Fonseca’s strong showing at Roland Garros is drawing plenty of attention, but he’s far from the only young player making headlines. His next opponent, Mensik, is just 20, and another 19-year-old, Rafael Jodar, has also made it to the quarter-finals.

Speaking about the growing group of young players breaking through in Paris, Fonseca said: “It’s great to have new generations. Not just Jakub, Jodar and me. But also Learner [Tien], [Alex] Michelsen, [Martin] Landaluce – he did really well.”

“We have a good new generation playing really good tennis, and it’s good to have them around, pushing me and doing some great battles.”

The ATP Tour looks set for an exciting few years ahead with so much emerging talent coming through the ranks. Sinner and Alcaraz are still very much at the top of the sport, though. Sinner is 24 while Alcaraz is only 23 – both still at the beginning of their primes.