This article is written by a student writer from the Her Campus at Casper Libero chapter and does not reflect the views of Her Campus.

João Fonseca, the nineteen year old tennis player, made history in Switzerland by being the first Brazilian to win an ATP 500 title and reach the biggest breakthrough of his career.

Against the Spaniard Alejandro Fokina, number eighteen in the rankings, the Brazilian tennis player secured the championship after winning the final in two sets (partial 6/3, 6/4) and making a solid appearance throughout the whole tournament.

In addition to defeating the current champion, Frenchman Giovanni Perricard (59th) in the first round, he eliminated Spaniard Jaume Munar (36th), Canadian Denis Shapovalov (23rd) and Czech Jakub Mensik (19th) during the circuit. With the excellent mark, João reached 28th position in the world rankings and broke the Brazilian fasting of more than 20 years of winning international titles of this level, since Gustavo Kuerten.

A Rising Star

Since his US OPEN juniors win in 2023, and the NEXT GEN FINALS title in 2024, João’s name had already been around experts as the greatest bet of a future career in the sport. In his first full year as a professional athlete, he gained more than 117 positions in the rankings in 2025, and showed the whole world his solidity and strength on the court, even at his young age.

The projected expectations on his game are very high, and were confirmed throughout the whole season, when the expected results did not come, and the title of “overestimated” was put into conversation. The biggest prospect from Rio showed consistency by becoming the youngest since 2011 to reach the third round at Wimbledon and making solid runs in his debut at the annual Grand Slams.

“The Big Three”

Given his rise, comparisons happened and were recurrent in the last year. On Brazilian soil, it is normal for people to comment on a “new Guga” and place on the teenager the hopes of having a Brazilian fighting at the top level of the sport. When asked about Fonseca, Guga commented to the news portal UOL: “When we see a boy with this progression, these results, this growth, he has everything to be number 1 in the world and master tennis”.

João became the third youngest to win an ATP 500 level title at the Swiss Indoors on October, and has been following the paths to become the third one on the trio, capable of ending the dominance of Carlos Alcaraz (1st) and Jannik Sinner (2nd) in this new era, making the bets on his name increasingly realistic. Playing the role of Novak Djokovic alongside Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer is only for a few, and Fonseca has always made it very clear when asked about the subject, what a privilege it is to have his name amongst the great tennis stars. 

What The Future Holds

Besides speculation about where his talent would be placed, his meteoric rise in just one year playing on tour has turned amazed and curious looks towards the courts. It is very important to have “fresh blood” appear and challenge what has been normal for a few years, making sure there is always a confident one, with enough talent, to compete against the top players.

The championship win in Basel was the confirmation needed of the quality and maturity in the Brazilian’s game, the crucial point for access to the sport’s highest shelf and the perfect ending to his debut professional season. Now part of the top-30 best tennis players in the world, João Fonseca still has a lot to go through and will hopefully be around the conversation for many years, securing the quality of the future of tennis.

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The article above was edited by Camilly Vieira.

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