You can’t control what people are going to say. You just need to focus on routine’

Tipped as Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner's next challenger, Jodo Fonseca is learning to deal with being aphenomenon in his native Brazil at the age of 19

- Donald McRae

My dream is to become world No 1, win grand slam titles and make history for Brazil,” Joao Fonseca says with simple purity as we reach the crux of his huge ambition. Fonseca is 19 and he makes that succinct list of his goals sound almost as casual as a few fun things amore ordinary teenager might aim to do this weekend. But Fonseca is different.

He isa generational talent who, in recent years, has been spoken ofasa future superstar amid predictions that he might have the best chance of denting the dominant hold that Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner exert over men’s tennis. But, as time in Fonseca’s company proves, he is remarkably grounded and mature for his age. Those attributes underline his credentials far more effectively than the hype that has trailed him.

“P’ve got a long way to go,” Fonseca says with healthy realism, “because it’s a very long and difficult dream. But, at the same time, I think it’s possible and I'm doing the best things I can to achieve it.”

This time last year Fonseca was ranked No 145 in the world and he had to win three qualifying matches to reach the first round of the Australian Open. He smiles ruefully as he relives the excruciating tension of the qualifiers. Hungry players are desperate to scrap their way into the main draw where large amounts of money and ranking points can be earned. “Iremember my first match was against an Argentinian guy, [Federico Agustin] Gomez. It was super tense because it was only my third slam and I was nervous. I played really tight in the beginning and then, after that, I played good.”

Fonseca won 6-4, 6-0 and he was more convincing in his second matchas he dropped only three games. “But I was tense in the third qualifier because I had lost in the third quali of the US Open in 2024. So it was another tough match because I wanted to win so much and make my first main draw.”