In the first 12 matches of his Grand Slam career, Joao Fonseca, the extremely talented 18-year-old from Brazil, showed flashes of why he is considered the next big thing in men’s tennis.

There were some phenomenal hits on both wings and some solid serves – which Fonseca can already hit at 140 miles per hour (225 km/h) – but it was likely opponent Andrey Rublev, the No. 9 seed, who did it in his first-round match I had the best time at the Australian Open on Tuesday evening. Rublev had forced the only break point of the opening set, in which Fonseca won just six points on his return.

Then the tiebreak began and Fonseca did what the best players do in the biggest moments: he went supernova.

The way the game was going, a single point against serve would have been enough to win the tiebreak; he won three.

Jannik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz today; Novak Djokovic for much of his career; Players like Roger Federer and Pete Sampras before them. Whenever they found themselves in a tiebreaker, they found a way to show their best tennis.

That’s exactly what Fonseca did in the first set against Rublev, providing compelling evidence as to why he is considered the next challenger to Sinner and Alcaraz’s current supremacy. The Rio de Janeiro-born world number 112 went through qualifying to reach the Australian Open – his first major. He ended last year by winning the ATP Next Gen Finals, an event for the world’s top players aged 20 and under, and began 2025 by winning a pre-Melbourne Challenger event in Canberra.

The obvious comparison to Fonseca would be the world’s No. 1 offender, with his big serve and easy forehand and backhand power from the baseline. Like Sinner, he is reserved on the field, albeit more expressive.

This is how he won the seven points that made him…

---

On the first point of the first set tiebreak, Fonseca, wearing a white jersey with hints of yellow and pink, hit a return shot deep at Rublev’s feet. The Russian can only lift a backhand to the line, where Fonseca punches it away for a crosscourt forehand winner; 1:0.

A well-placed serve on goal forces Rublev to throw his backhand return into the net; 2:0.

The serve plus one, in which the server responds to the return with a big groundstroke, is one of the most important playing patterns in tennis. Fonseca provides a prime example of this here: serving to the Rublev backhand to set up a forehand winner down the line; 3-0.

In the fourth point, Fonseca holds out with excellent defensive work and then switches the momentum from defense to attack with a forehand over the line. It’s so deep that Rublev tries to return it and is able to lift a backhand into a central position just a few meters behind the court.

In response, Fonseca hits an inside-out backhand – and don’t try that at home, kids. Rublev desperately hits a long forehand, leaving Fonseca two mini-breaks ahead in a set in which he had no chance of breaking at all. He gives him the big punch; the Brazilian fans in the crowd go wild; 4:0.

Rublev hits an ace wide of the goal – it’s the only way to win a point against Fonseca at the moment; 4-1.

Big serve outside, Rublev’s return is wider; 5:1 at the break.

Technically, the change of sides should simply consist of the two players moving to the other side of the field. However, this is never the case – there are liquids to be consumed, rackets, clothing and equipment to be manipulated, and superstitions to be entertained.

In this case, almost a minute passes before Fonseca throws the ball up to serve again, which is a lot of time when you’re a young man in the biggest game of your career. Enough time to wake up and suddenly realize where you are. Or, if you’re Fonseca, hitting a serve that your opponent can barely get a racket to; 6-1.

Five set points, but Fonseca only needs one of them, dismissively throwing away Rublev’s first serve for a return winner on the forehand side; 7-1.

Fonseca used the momentum at the end of the first set to break Rubev right at the start of the second set, which was all he needed to take a two-set lead. Then one An hour and a half later, Fonseca did it again. He won the third set tiebreak 7-5, sealed it with a backhand winner and then, after some tense moments, a forehand winner to make it a resounding 7-6(1), 6-3, 7-6(5 ) victory to complete.

The future is yet to be decided, but today a major talent took to Melbourne on its biggest stage.

(Top Photo: Asanka Brendon Ratnayake/Associated Press/Getty Images)