When the nerves come, you need to find a way to win

João Fonseca is a rising star in tennis and knows 'everything is possible' for him at upcoming slam

- Simon Cambers

When the 18-year-old Brazilian João Fonseca beat the world No 9 at the time, Andrey Rublev, in this year's Australian Open first round the hype machine went into overdrive. Here was the next big thing, a man who could bridge the gap to the world's top two, Jannik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz. When he went out in round two, questions were asked about the wisdom in talking up a man appearing in his first grand slam draw.

One month later, Fonseca proved he has the mental strength and resolve to match his talent. Facing Argentina's Mariano Navone in the quarter-finals in Buenos Aires, in front of a hostile home crowd, he saved two match points and then went all the way to win his first ATP Tour title. He handled the occasion brilliantly, loving every minute. The hype is real.

"That was my biggest title and it was the most important of my career," says Fonseca, breaking between practice sessions for his main draw debut at Wimbledon next week. "I won against four Argentinians in Argentina, which is very difficult because the crowd there is loud, and I needed to reverse a lot of situations. Navone had match points against me and he served for the match.

"The week was super important for my maturity and for my experience because, at that time, people were thinking: 'OK, this guy is good, he's talented, he can hit the ball hard, but let's see if he has mentality and physicality'. I won because of these two things. It was important for myself to understand I was ready to fight until the last point."