Former World No.1 Sends Warning to Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner As He’s Convinced Joao Fonseca Will Become ‘Incredible Player’

The Shanghai Masters is the next tournament where both Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner will participate.

Former World No.1 Sends Warning to Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner As He’s Convinced Joao Fonseca Will Become ‘Incredible Player’

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

🔍 Explore this post with:

ChatGPTPerplexityGrok AIGoogle AI

Joao Fonseca made his Laver Cup debut and won the title with Team World. He played just one singles match, against Flavio Cobolli, and won it in straight sets.

Fonseca did not face Team Europe’s Carlos Alcaraz, a match that the tennis world is eagerly waiting for. He is backed by many to join Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner to form another dominating Big 3.

At present, the 19-year-old has just one ATP title- the Argentina Open he lifted by beating Francisco Cerundolo. Team World’s vice captain, Pat Rafter, closely watched Fonseca, and during a press conference, he said he is convinced that in a couple of years, the Brazilian teen sensation will become an incredible player.

I think he clearly knows what he needs to continue improving, which is why I believe that in a year, he will be a great player, but in two years, he can be an incredible tennis player. He has the will and determination to continue improving. His aggressiveness is impressive. His game is very powerful, and he is a very mature boy. He needs to adapt better and better to the changes in surface and balls, as well as the variations in rhythm and speed used by his opponents.

Alcaraz and Sinner have split the last eight Majors and have been dominating on the tour since 2024. Fonseca, the winner of the 2024 Next Gen ATP Finals, made his Grand Slam main draw debut this season, reaching the second rounds of the Australian Open and the US Open. At the French Open and Wimbledon, Fonseca lost in the third round.

Carlos Alcaraz posts a message for Team World

Carlos Alcaraz’s three wins could not do much as Team World, on the back of winning every match on Day 2 of the Laver Cup, continued their dominance on the final day and ended up lifting their third title. In the last match, Taylor Fritz, for the sixth consecutive time, secured a win over Alexander Zverev to take a 9-5 head-to-head lead.

Carlos Alcaraz
Carlos Alcaraz (Image via X/Carlos Alcaraz 4K)

The lone defeat that Alcaraz suffered was against Fritz on the second day. After the defeat, Alcaraz took to Instagram to post a congratulatory message for Team World.

We fought until the very end, but it wasn’t meant to be! Congrats to Team World on winning the Laver Cup in San Francisco! Despite everything, it’s been an amazing week together as a team!

It was Alcaraz’s second appearance in the tournament, co-founded by Roger Federer. Last year, his win over Fritz in the final match helped Team Europe win their fifth title. Alcaraz will next be making his debut at the Japan Open, scheduled to start on September 24.

Alcaraz will kick-start his campaign against Argentina’s Sebastian Baez. The first seed is projected to face Fritz in the final.

Alcaraz, who chose to skip the China Open that he lifted last year, has claimed seven titles from nine finals he has played so far this season, which also includes the French Open and the US Open, by beating Jannik Sinner. The US Open win helped him to reclaim his No.1 ranking for the first time since September 2023 (dethroned by Novak Djokovic after his US Open win).

But Alcaraz only has a 760-point lead, which means if Sinner wins the China Open as well as the Shanghai Masters, he will be able to once again reclaim his top ranking. Sinner will play the Shanghai Masters as the defending champion (beat Djokovic last year). Alcaraz lost to Tomas Machac in the quarterfinals. China Open was the last title the Spaniard clinched in 2024.

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