Joao Fonseca told ‘people have figured him out’ as former world No 4 sends warning
Former world No 4 Greg Rusedski has revealed he is “not seeing” Joao Fonseca as an automatic rival for Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner, despite a breakout 2025 campaign.
Teen star Fonseca has long been recognised as one of the hottest prospects in the men’s game, and followed in Alcaraz and Sinner’s footsteps by triumphing at the Next Gen ATP Finals in 2024.
Starting the year ranked outside the top 140, the 19-year-old finished the year ranked 24th in the world, winning his maiden ATP Tour titles at the Argentina Open and Swiss Indoors.
Fonseca also won at least one main-draw match at all four Grand Slam tournaments in 2025, memorably coming through qualifying at the Australian Open to reach the second round — beating Andrey Rublev on his major debut.
The Brazilian then reached the third round of both the French Open and Wimbledon and round two of the US Open, with the 19-year-old set to be seeded at a Grand Slam event for the first time at the 2026 Australian Open.
Many have compared the rise of Fonseca to that of Alcaraz and Sinner, who have proven to be the dominant ATP Tour players of recent years.
The Spaniard and Italian have swept the last eight Grand Slam titles, and all eyes are on whether and when someone can challenge their dominance.
Fonseca has long been named as a potential challenger to the ‘New 2’, but 1997 US Open runner-up Rusedski has urged caution regarding the Brazilian.
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Speaking on his new Off Court With Greg podcast, the former British No 1 claimed Fonseca is not showing the same potential as Alcaraz and Sinner were as young players.
“Fonseca to me, I am not seeing it yet,” said Rusedski
“He played great in Australia at the beginning of the year and beat Rublev and it was like: ‘Wow, who is this kid?’ But people have figured him out. They have figured out how to break him down now.
“He is still young and there is time but he is still too green, as I like to call it. There is still a long developmental period of at least two years before we see what he is made of.
“He is not like when I saw Carlos as a 15-year-old, or I saw Jannik. Everybody is talking about him. But remember [Alexander] Zverev, everyone was saying he is the next heir. But lo and behold, the big three go and then Carlos and Sinner show up.”
It is not too long until Fonseca returns to action, with the 2026 ATP Tour season underway in less than two weeks.
The Brazilian is currently set to start his season at the Brisbane International, with Fonseca currently in line to be the sixth seed at the ATP 250 event, joining the likes of Daniil Medvedev in the field.
Fonseca will then compete at the Adelaide International the following week, before then heading to Melbourne for Australian Open action.
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