In a boardroom at Miami Gardens\u2019 Hard Rock Stadium earlier this week, Joao Fonseca\u2014the 19-year-old Brazilian tennis phenom\u2014is making media rounds before the Miami Open begins. He\u2019s dressed casually, wearing a bluish On T-shirt, a Whoop fitness band, and a Rolex with a fluted bezel.<\/p>\n
For one social media hit, he tries to balance a banana on the top rail of a room divider with the help of an Inspector Gadget-like arm. (Spoiler alert: It does not work.) Next, he\u2019s asked to name the ten youngest 1000-level men\u2019s tournament winners in history\u2014a tough query for even an avid tennis fan. After that, he\u2019s asked about films, and while Fonseca does not have a ton of time to watch movies, he did catch the Oscar-nominated The Secret Agent<\/em>, directed by the Recife-born Kleber Mendon\u00e7a Filho and starring Salvador-raised Wagner Moura, both of them fellow Brazilians.<\/p>\n While such content may be a requirement (and sometimes scourge) of our era, what really stands out, as I shadow Fonseca, is just how much presence<\/em> he has: As we walk through the room, the reporters and creators and staffers we pass all lock in, eyes gliding to follow us. Fonseca and his team cannot get to everyone, of course, yet everyone wants to get to him. The athlete himself also has a confident gait\u2014still lanky and long-limbed in that teenage way, but assured. After two years on tour\u2014with his profile and ranking skyrocketing in the last 12 months\u2014Fonseca seems to have both leveled up and settled in.<\/p>\n \u201cI think I\u2019m understanding a little bit more about how the top players play\u2014not technically, but mentally,\u201d he says as we walk. \u201cHow to deal with important points, how to open a match. I\u2019m starting to understand more tricks of the game.\u201d<\/p>\n Photo: Guillaume Ketterer<\/span><\/p>\n<\/figure>\n Understanding\u2014and upgrading\u2014were on full view in Fonseca\u2019s round of 16 match at the BNP Paribas Open<\/a> in Indian Wells, California a few weeks ago. There, for the first time in his career, he played world number-two Jannik Sinner<\/a>, fighting through both sets to tiebreaks (and garnishing three set points in the first). Amplified by the dazzle camouflage of his On gear and his signature nuclear forehands, Fonseca looked to be a true threat to Sinner\u2019s dominance (and, by proxy, Carlos Alcaraz<\/a>\u2019s: Over the past three years, Sinner and Alcaraz have become tennis\u2019s most impermeable duo).<\/p>\n \u201cI knew there wasn\u2019t much of a weakness that I could try to put my power against,\u201d says Fonseca of that crucial match. \u201cI knew that if I went hard, it was going to come back hard as well, so I think one of the biggest things [for me when I play Jannik] is to keep consistency at the highest level. He just doesn\u2019t miss the ball.\u201d<\/p>\n Photo: Nick Remsen<\/span><\/p>\n<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n While there\u2019s been endless speculation in the tennis world about his potential rise to challenge Sinner and Alcaraz, Fonseca simply believes in himself. After breaking through last year at both the Australian and Miami Opens, he won two tour titles later in the season\u2014and while not currently at his career ranking peak due to a lower back injury a few months ago, if Indian Wells was any indication, he\u2019s now back in form and better than ever.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n![\"Image](\"https:\/\/assets.vogue.com\/photos\/69bcf365e1ee6cedac257459\/master\/w_1600%2Cc_limit\/Joao_Rio%2520Open_credit%2520Guillaume%2520Ketterer%2520%255B6%255D.jpg\"\/)
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