One of the hardest things for young players during their formative years on tour is maintaining a good performance. That’s why all eyes were on Paris’ Joao Fonseca on Tuesday, as the 19-year-old took to the court just two days after making history in Basel when he became the first man from his country to win the ATP 500 title and the youngest champion in 36 years at the Basel Indoors in Switzerland.
Fonseca passed the test.
He fought back from a set down to defeat Denis Shapovalov for the second time in as many weeks and advanced to the second round with a 5-7 6-4 6-3 win.
Fonseca made his Paris Masters debut, extending his winning streak to five matches and taking on 2018 Paris Masters champion Karen Khachanov in the second round.
“Today was a great experience,” Fonseca said of his 26th win of the season. “After winning one game and changing my mentality to go to another game, another big game where I need to be at my best because the players I’m playing against are top 25 players.”
Fonseca and his team made smart decisions with their schedule, and he began to feel frustrated after the Laver Cup and took a long break. It’s not easy to turn down playing opportunities and new experiences when you’re a teenager, but Fonseca took the time to freshen up mentally and work on his fitness during the break, as evidenced by his performances on European hard courts.
“This is my first year playing in a major tournament,” Fonseca told reporters. “So one of the things that my team and I are trying to focus on is which weeks are we going to play and which weeks are we not going to play and focus more on the body and the mentality.”
Now that the Rio native has seen the benefits of taking a mid-season break, he may continue to do so.
