18-year-old Brazilian sensation, Joao Fonseca has taken the tennis world by storm. Late last year, he clinched the ATP Next Gen Finals in Jeddah and announced himself as the leader of the next generation of stars. Months later, Fonseca emerged victorious at the ATP 250 Argentina Open, becoming one of the youngest players to win an ATP Tour-level title. Watching Fonseca’s rise, German tennis legend, Andrea Petkovic made a massive comparison.

Fonseca’s rise in the ATP Tour reminded Petkovic of players like Emma Raducanu and Boris Becker, who also had massive wins while being relatively unknown to the tennis world. While Raducanu won the 2021 US Open title, Becker won the 1985 Wimbledon Championships title at just 17 years old. As a result, during The Inside-In Podcast, Petkovic compared Fonseca to the likes of Raducanu and Becker.

She said, “I think the only two people that I know personally that have experienced is Emma Raducanu of course. Everyone who follows tennis expected Joao Fonseca to do special things and he has done already but Emma Raducanu came out of nowhere. I know Boris Becker was a similar case when he won Wimbledon as a teenager, that was out of nowhere.”

Meanwhile, the Brazilian sensation is taking cues from Roger Federer to prevail on the big stage. The Swiss maestro has been his childhood idol and he grew up watching Federer dominate his opponents. Additionally, Fonseca even tried to copy Federer’s playing style during his childhood but wasn’t very successful at it. Revealing precious advice from him, Fonseca once said, “It’s a bit unfair. Like Roger says… talent isn’t enough. So I put a lot of hard work. Me and my team know that.”

While Fonseca might be garnering all the attention, an unwanted controversy was created after he scripted the Argentina Open victory. As a result, the likes of Becker and Chris Evert issued critical statements.

Boris Becker and Chris Evert slam forgotten records after Joao Fonseca’s win

Soon after Fonseca defeated Francisco Cerundolo to win the Argentina Open title, social media was abuzz with a massive record created by him. Pictures began to circulate about him becoming the youngest ATP champion since 2000. However, Becker wasn’t happy as his achievement had been forgotten.

At 17, Boris Becker had won the Wimbledon title and would’ve surely been on the all-time list. As a result, he expressed his frustration, saying, “So before the year 2000 we didn’t play tennis?” Subsequently, Chris Evert wrote, “We did the best with the information, technology, (wood rackets!) training that was out there. We were champions in our era. Enough said!” Additionally, Martina Navratilova also joined Becker and Evert in criticizing the incomplete stat. Taking a sly dig, Navratilova responded to Becker’s question by saying, “Apparently not.”

Meanwhile, Joao Fonseca couldn’t follow up his Argentina Open win with another big victory as he succumbed to defeat at the Rio Open in the opening round. He would look to bounce back quickly as he eyes a good performance at the Sunshine Double next month.