“This is where I belong“- The 18-year-old Rio native Joao Fonseca has taken the tennis world by storm! A day ago, he became the youngest ATP finalist on clay since the Spanish superstar Carlos Alcaraz in 2021. Now, with his impressive 6-4,7-6(1) win over the local lad Francisco Cerundolo in the final of the Buenos Aires Open, Fonseca has become the second youngest South American to win a title in the Open Era, (after Guillermo Perez-Roldan). What a moment this has been for the youngster! His incredible performance in Buenos Aires has drawn praise from even Carlos Alcaraz.

Joao Fonseca won the Next Gen ATP Finals last year. Shortly after winning that title, we heard him say, “My dream is to become No.1.” After his heroics in Jeddah, he stunned the world by defeating Russia’s Andrey Rublev in the first round of the 2025 AO. His impressive performance in that match drew praise from several tennis stars. Speaking on Joao Fonseca’s performance, Carlos Alcaraz said, “The way he played his first Grand Slam match against his first top-10 player, it’s unbelievable. It’s just the beginning of the year, just one win in a Grand Slam, but he’s going to be there. We’re going to put Joao Fonseca’s name on the list of the best players in the world really soon.”

Even Novak Djokovic lauded Joao Fonseca after his stunning AO triumph over Rublev in that first-round clash. The Serb said, “I congratulated him not only on the win last night that I’ve seen, the last set I’ve seen but also everything he has been doing the last six to 12 months.” Although Fonseca was defeated in the second round by Lorenzo Songeo (ITA), the Brazilian made a strong comeback in his next tournament. What was Carlos Alcaraz’s reaction to Joao Fonseca’s historic feat at the Buenos Aires Open?

Carlos Alcaraz congratulated the youngster through a tweet saying, “Impressive Joao! 🔥🤝🏻 Many congrats!!! 🫶🏻🇧🇷.” Not only the Spaniard but several other tennis players also congratulated Joao Fonseca on his win. Ben Shelton wrote, “Too good” in the comment sections of Fonseca’s IG post. Another Brazilian, Thiago Monteiro commented, “Phenomenon and Genius.. it’s just beginning.” Even Italy’s Fabio Fognini congratulated the youngster on his recent success.

After Fonseca’s impressive performance in the semifinal in Buenos Aires, Andy Murray showed his excitement for a possible matchup between Joao Fonseca and Carlos Alcaraz. He even shared a post on his X handle saying, “Can’t wait for the first Fonseca vs Alcaraz match ❤️🔥.” Later Alcaraz gave a nod to a fan when the fan said that they wanted a match between him and Fonseca. When is there a possibility of these two facing each other though? Well, it might happen at the Indian Wells Masters.

However, over there, Joao Fonseca may have to play the qualifiers unless he gets a wildcard to gain an automatic entry into the main draw. Fonseca’s incredible composure and physicality have already earned him the title of “Next Carlos Alcaraz” by tennis greats like John McEnroe. So, it’ll be interesting to see what happens when these two take on each other in a heavyweight clash in the near future. What did Joao Fonseca say after his impressive triumph in Buenos Aires though?

“Unbelievable” – Joao Fonseca’s first reaction to his emphatic triumph in Buenos Aires

Joao Fonseca has become the talk of the town over the last few months because of his incredible performances. He created quite a few records with his historic win at the 2025 Buenos Aires Open. With this victory in the final, he also replaced Pete Samapras as the tenth youngest winner on the ATP Tour. Joao Fonseca was ranked at number 145 at the start of the season and with the help of his impressive performances in the last few weeks, he has now jumped to 68th in the world. Fonseca has plenty of stairs to climb before he reaches his goal, but what every tennis fan is saying at the moment is: Joao Fonseca- Remember the name!

Shortly after his victory against Cerundolo in Buenos Aires, Fonseca said, “Unbelievable week, even in Argentina there are some Brazilians cheering for me. That’s just amazing. Every Brazilian, everyone from their country wants this support from your own country. For me, this [moment] that I’m living is just unbelievable.” He further added, “I want to thank my family, my friends, and my sponsors for just helping me achieve my dream, which is to play tennis. Of course, I want to be No. 1, of course, I want to win Slams, titles, but my dream is just to play tennis, and I’m living it.“

How many ranking points did Fonseca earn from this tournament? Well, since the Buenos Aires Open is an ATP 250 event, so he won 250 points for being the champion. The Brazilian now has a total of 850 points and next up for him is his home tournament (Rio Open) where he’s going to face France’s Alexandre Muller in the first match. Do you think he can make his home fans happy with yet another win on the ATP Tour?