Joao Fonseca Shares How He Felt After Not Being Picked to Play Carlos Alcaraz at Laver Cup

Joao Fonseca has one ATP title to his name, plus he also played the main draw matches of all four Majors after making his debut this year.

Joao Fonseca Shares How He Felt After Not Being Picked to Play Carlos Alcaraz at Laver Cup

Joao Fonseca, Carlos Alcaraz (Image via X/Everything Joao Fonseca, Carlos Alcaraz 4K)

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Joao Fonseca played only one match in his maiden appearance at the Laver Cup. On the first day, the Brazilian young gun defeated Team Europe’s Flavio Cobolli in straight sets.

Team World, led by captain Andre Agassi and vice-captain Pat Rafter, wanted Fonseca to feature in doubles, but he did not have much experience. On the final day, the team chose Francisco Cerundolo instead of Fonseca to lock horns with Carlos Alcaraz.

During his interview with ESPN, the 19-year-old made his feelings known on not playing Alcaraz- the match the entire tennis world undoubtedly is waiting to watch.

I knew that with my Friday game, if anyone messed up, I’d be there. On Saturday, everyone played incredible tennis. So, I wasn’t sad or anything about not being selected on Sunday. I was even asked to play doubles, but I’m not an expert.

Fonseca is expected to join Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner to form another formidable Big 3. So far in his career, the 2024 Next Gen ATP champion lifted only one tour-level title: this year’s Argentina Open by beating Francisco Cerundolo.

We had a team discussion, and we thought they (Cerundolo) were better. But, anyway, it’s part of the team, it’s part of the team spirit. I was there on the bench, giving my all, giving 100%, wanting to win. So, it’s part of it. Maybe next time I’ll be playing Saturday, Sunday. We’ll see.

Joao Fonseca added

Alcaraz and Sinner have already established themselves as future greats of the game, thanks to their dominance in Grand Slam tournaments and on the tour overall. Since 2024, Alcaraz and Sinner have lifted the Majors (four each). While last year the Italian ended the season with eight official titles, Alcaraz this season has taken home seven of them.

Andy Roddick on what Joao Fonseca does that’s similar to Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner

Andy Roddick was impressed by Joao Fonseca‘s lone match at the Laver Cup. He said Fonseca, just like Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner, has the ability to generate speed off even the slower balls.

Jannik Sinner, Joao Fonseca, Carlos Alcaraz
L-R: Jannik Sinner, Joao Fonseca, Carlos Alcaraz (Images via ATP/X)

We saw [Casper] Ruud kind of getting decent looks at second serves, even off of that [Reilly] Opelka kick serve yesterday. If you can create something out of nothing and create pace off of what I call a dead ball, you will have success. Fonseca was unbelievable at that. He can create off of a kind of dead ball, slow ball, kind of create that speed as a mechanism, as maybe anyone in the world not named Carlos or Sinner, right?

Andy Roddick said during his Served podcast

Sinner and Alcaraz will next be playing at the China Open and the Japan Open, respectively. After their respective ATP 500 events, the young rivals will compete at the Shanghai Masters, where last year, the four-time Grand Slam champion defeated Novak Djokovic.

Alcaraz lost to Tomas Machac in the quarterfinals in his second appearance in the tournament. The Spaniard locked horns with Sinner whenever they were in the same draw since the Italian Open.

Alcaraz just has a 760-point lead in the rankings table. So if the 24-year-old collects points from his wins at the China Open and the Shanghai Masters, he will once again reclaim his No.1 ranking from the six-time Grand Slam champion.

In Beijing, Sinner will be bidding to win his third title of the season, following the Australian Open and Wimbledon. He has so far played six finals, and the four defeats he faced were at the hands of Alcaraz, who now leads 10-5 in the head-to-head matchups.

Also read: Alexander Zverev laments about a back problem after Team Defeats Team Europe at the Laver Cup