The rise of the 18-year-old Brazilian star, Joao Fonseca, has now become a hot topic in the tennis world. After winning the Next Gen ATP Finals last year, he announced his arrival on the bigger stages of the game with his title triumph at the Argentina Open. Seeing his incredible performances over the last few months, Serena Williams’ ex-coach Patrick Mouratoglou once claimed, “I love Fonseca; he’s the next big thing coming up and I think he’s so exciting. His personality is like a sun; he is shining. Very good serve, very good backhand. Forehand, literal bomb.” Even here at the 2025 French Open, Fonseca stunned everyone by defeating the former world number 6, Hubert Hurkacz, in the first round. Following his recent second-round win against the local lad, Pierre-Hugues Herbert, even Venus Williams shared her thoughts on this teenager. What did she say, though?

During TNT’s coverage of the 2025 French Open, the 2002 finalist, Venus Williams, said, “It’s scary how good players are so young. Fonseca… how old is he? Is he still in diapers? I wish I was hitting like that at that age.” Fonseca defeated Herbert by 7-6(4), 7-6(4), 6-4 in the second round. His temperament throughout this match was truly praiseworthy. 

Although Fonseca is arguably the most exciting prospect in men’s tennis at the moment, the French crowd was extremely vocal while showing their support for Herbert. This was his first meeting with the Frenchman, and he looked literally untroubled in this match. The young lad even broke down in tears after reaching the third round of the Grand Slam for the first time. Fonseca is currently ranked 65th in the world, and his previous best record at the majors was reaching the second round at the 2025 AO. Even in that second-round match, it took Lorenzo Sonego five sets to topple this promising young lad. Is Venus Williams the only one who is amazed at seeing his massive strides?

After reaching the second round of the 2025 French Open, Joao Fonseca said it was “just a dream come true,” and then his tears after making it to the third round expressed how much this victory meant to him. But how optimistic is the tennis world about his bright future?

If we see some of the reactions surrounding this Brazilian during his on-court ceremony at the French Open, Rafael Nadal spoke about this young lad. He said, “He’s a very young player that started his career doing very, very well. He has a great future in front. I wish him all the very best. I met him a couple of times. Seems like he has a very good interaction with his family and people next to him. He’s very well educated. I really hope that he has a great future in front.”

Even the 24-time Grand Slam champion, Novak Djokovic, hailed Joao Fonseca’s brilliance, saying, “He seems to be handling [the expectations and attention] very well. I mean, I don’t know him personally so well, but from what I have seen on the court, not only the way he plays but the way he behaves and people around him, seems like there is a very good level of balance and professionalism and devotion, like what we have seen for the last couple years with Alcaraz. He has the potential to be really a superstar of this game. No doubt about it.”

Who else, other than Venus Williams, Rafael Nadal, and Novak Djokovic, has heaped praise on this 18-year-old tennis sensation? Let’s check out a few more reactions.

Venus Williams’ childhood coach highly rates Joao Fonseca

With this win against Herbert, Joao Fonseca has now jumped up eleven spots to a career-high number 54 in the PIF ATP Live Rankings. His meteoric rise has been the talk of the town since the start of this season. Earlier this season, he defeated Russian star Andrey Rublev in the first round of the 2025 AO. Seeing this incredible performance from this youngster, Coco Gauff’s ex-coach tweeted, “Really Like what i’m seeing from Fonseca such easy power off both sides and sneaky 😈 good serv definitely 💯 need to work on nickname asap.”

Other than Venus Williams and other tennis greats, even Stefanos Tsitsipas once said, “I personally believe it’s just the beginning of him rising up in the rankings and showing his actual true potential. I think we’re going to see big things from him in the next few years.” Even the defending champion at Roland Garros, Carlos Alcaraz, claims that Joao Fonseca’s “potential is huge” and that he believes his game is “really, really high” level.

Interesting Fact: Joao Fonseca hails Roger Federer as his tennis idol

Even American tennis greats like Andy Roddick have time and again spoken about this Brazilian. According to Roddick, Fonseca will become one of the top favorites to win Grand Slam tournaments within the next 2-3 years. But the most interesting comment came from Serena and Venus Williams’ childhood coach, Rick Macci. In a recent tweet, the coach stated, “Fonseca is the best young talent I’ve seen since Carlos, the one who has the essential qualities to win Grand Slams. He will gain incredible experience on how to lose and how to win, and in two years, he will be at the level of Sinner and Alcaraz.” Do you agree with the same thought, or will he be yet another one-slam wonder?