{"id":258450,"date":"2025-10-29T09:57:13","date_gmt":"2025-10-29T09:57:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/258450\/"},"modified":"2025-10-29T09:57:13","modified_gmt":"2025-10-29T09:57:13","slug":"andy-roddick-says-what-he-thought-of-joao-fonseca-after-meeting-him-for-the-first-time-earlier-this-year","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/258450\/","title":{"rendered":"Andy Roddick says what he thought of Joao Fonseca after meeting him for the first time earlier this year"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"\/ Follow us on Google Discover <\/a> <\/p>\n

Andy Roddick and Joao Fonseca met for the first time earlier this year at the US Open.<\/p>\n

Meeting in New York, Roddick and Fonseca found themselves on opposite sides of the court during US Open<\/a> Fan Week.<\/p>\n

Roddick and Alex Michelsen took on Fonseca and Juan Martin del Potro<\/a> in a South America vs North America exhibition match.<\/p>\n

\"JuanPhoto by Sarah Stier\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

It was the South Americans who emerged victorious 11-9 when Roddick hit a Fonseca<\/a> forehand into the net.<\/p>\n

Reacting to Fonseca\u2019s win in Basel<\/a>, Roddick has reflected on his first impressions of the Brazilian from earlier this year.<\/p>\n

Andy Roddick \u2018liked everything\u2019 about Joao Fonseca and says he\u2019s already a locker room favorite<\/p>\n

Speaking on the latest episode of \u2018Served with Andy Roddick\u2019, the 43-year-old shared what he really thought about Fonseca when they met.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis guy is the real deal. I had the pleasure of meeting him in New York this year, engaged, looks you in the eye,\u201d said Roddick<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cI like everything about him, you can always kind of tell, with how the other players act around someone, someone who came out with that much hype, is that young\u2026 I felt a lot of push back in the locker room when I was in his position, probably because I was a p\u2014 or still am one, but he doesn\u2019t seem like that, he seems really nice.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt seems like the other players really enjoy being around him, so props to him.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"JoaoPhoto by Julian Finney\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

Roddick proceeded to comment on Fonseca\u2019s efforts in Basel, where he picked up the second title of his career.<\/p>\n

\u201cJoao Fonseca. We\u2019ve been wanting it; everyone\u2019s been ready for it. Top 30 in the world,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cImagine breaking out like he did and getting the name value and name recognition that he did at the beginning of the year.<\/p>\n

\u201cDoing casual things like being the youngest person in 25 years to reach the third round of the French Open<\/a> and Wimbledon back-to-back, and people going, \u2018He hasn\u2019t progressed like we thought\u2019\u2026 He\u2019s pretty young.<\/p>\n

2025 French Open \u2013 Joao Fonseca lost in 3R to Jack Draper2025 Wimbledon \u2013 Joao Fonseca lost in 3R to Nicolas Jarry<\/p>\n

\u201cWinning in Basel last week, in the top 30, sending a message going into the next year, and also, we have to remember, he\u2019s going to get some time off.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe started by winning Next Gen finals in December, great, fantastic. So he\u2019s been playing 12 months straight.<\/p>\n

\u201cProps to Joao Fonseca.\u201d<\/p>\n

Fonseca isn\u2019t done yet in 2025, however, as he headed straight to Paris after his win in Basel\u2026<\/p>\n

Joao Fonseca beats Denis Shapovalov in Basel rematch<\/p>\n

Last week, Denis Shapovalov was booed off the court<\/a> during his defeat to Fonseca in the Swiss Indoors semifinals.<\/p>\n

They met again in the first round of the Paris Masters<\/a> on Tuesday, as the Canadian hoped for a better result.<\/p>\n

It wasn\u2019t to be, however, as Shapovalov lost in three sets, 7-5, 4-6, 3-6.<\/p>\n

\"DenisPhoto by Tnani Badreddine\/DeFodi Images\/DeFodi via Getty Images<\/p>\n

Advancing to the second round, Fonseca has risen a further four places in the \u2018Live ATP Rankings\u2019, and now sits 24th in the world.<\/p>\n

RankNameCountryPoints20Tommy PaulUSA2,10021Francisco CerundoloArgentina2,03522Flavio CobolliItaly2,02523Denis ShapovalovCanada1,91324Joao FonsecaBrazil1,66525Tallon GriekspoorNetherlands1,61526Luciano DarderiItaly1,60927Arthur RindernkechFrance1,54028Frances TiafoeUSA1,51029Cameron NorrieGreat Britain1,508Snapshot of the Live ATP Rankings<\/p>\n

Looking to close the gap to those ahead of him, Fonseca will return to take on Russia\u2019s Karen Khachanov<\/a> in round two.<\/p>\n

Khachanov is one of three former champions competing at this year\u2019s Paris Masters, and will be a tough out for the young Brazilian.<\/p>\n

Former champions competing at the 2025 Paris MastersAlexander Zverev (2024)Daniil Medvedev (2020)Karen Khachanov (2018)<\/p>\n

Should Fonseca make his way past Khachanov, he\u2019d meet either Alex de Minaur<\/a> or Gabriel Diallo in the last 16.<\/p>\n

It won\u2019t be easy, but Fonseca will no doubt have his sights set on winning his maiden Masters 1000 title in the French capital.<\/p>\n

With an ATP 250 title (2025 Argentina Open) and an ATP 500 title (2025 Swiss Indoors) to his name, winning at the Masters 1000 level is a logical next step for the talented teenager.<\/p>\n

He won\u2019t want to get ahead of himself thinking about the title just yet, however, as he now focuses on his second-round match with Khachanov on Wednesday, October 29.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Follow us on Google Discover Andy Roddick and Joao Fonseca met for the first time earlier this year…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":258451,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[72],"tags":[429,430,12551,99,428],"class_list":["post-258450","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tennis","tag-andy-roddick","tag-atp","tag-joao-fonseca","tag-sports","tag-tennis"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/258450","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=258450"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/258450\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/258451"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=258450"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=258450"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=258450"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}