Despite reaching the quarterfinal of the Monte-Carlo Masters, tennis fans have expressed their discontent with the spotlight Joao Fonseca is receiving. He defeated Matteo Berrettini 6-3, 6-2 in the round of 16 to advance to the final eight.
So far, this is Fonseca’s best performance of 2026. He made first-round exits at the Australian and Argentina Open and advanced to the round of 16 at the Rio Open and Indian Wells Masters. At the Miami Open, Spanish star Carlos Alcaraz bested him in the round of 64 with 6-4, 6-4.
After cruising through his first quarterfinal round this year, a tennis commentator praised the Brazilian, suggesting it was one of the many quarterfinals that he would play ahead and wrote:
“A first career ATP Masters 1000 QF for João Fonseca. Of many.”
This view did not sit well with the fans, who suggested it was too early to view him as a future star without having the results to back it up as one of them wrote:
What did Novak Djokovic and Andre Agassi say about Joao Fonseca’s rising popularity?
“He’s a very exciting player to watch, but he’s not the only one,” Djokovic said. “You have [Jakub] Mensik. Maybe because people talk about Fonseca so much, they forgot about Mensik. [Learner] Tien, as well. All those players are very young, but they have as good of rankings as he does. They’re as good as him.”
Andre Agassi was present at the 2026 Rio Open, where Fonseca was defeated by Ignacio Buse in his second round. Agassi opined that the 19-year-old Brazilian has been carrying the weight of expectations.
“Joao Fonseca should take it as a compliment that people think he has to win every match, but he needs to learn that other people’s expectations aren’t his responsibility,” Agassi said. “On the other hand, improving every day is definitely his responsibility. So, I hope he’ll be able to distinguish between other people’s expectations and what he needs to focus on.”
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