There have been a bunch of stories coming out of tennis paradise this week, so I’ll talk about a selection of them.
Let’s start with Fonseca. He didn’t go super deep in the draw but this is certainly one of his most impressive tournaments so far. It was a much needed performance from him, because I feel like he’s at an inflection point in his career. In 2024, he broke onto the scene as a 17 year old prodigy with unlimited potential. Few knew of him, except for a dedicated Brazilian army that has been a constant at every match of his (and every social media post). As he began to put up results, his hype grew further. Eventually he was well known in the tennis world as perhaps a future member of a “Big 3” with Alcaraz and Sinner. With such notoriety comes plenty of scrutiny, and he has had his share of doubters. Over the last year, his results have varied and he hasn’t made a deep run in a major tournament. Obviously he’s still super young, but guys like Alcaraz have set an unreasonably high standard. This week for him probably won’t silence the skeptics, but in my mind it should. In his second round, Fonseca defeated Khachanov in a 3-setter that tested his mental fortitude. I’ve seen him play through high pressure situations before, but he managed to come back from losing the first set against a veteran player who also hits the crap out of the ball. He was actually on the cusp of defeat in the second set tiebreaker, edging out the Russian 9-7. That takes heart. Against Tommy Paul, Fonseca displayed tremendous power on both ground stroke sides and his first serves consistently landed in the mid-130s. To top it off, his control and shot selection felt far more mature than the carefree slap shot Joao of two years ago. It may have been the highest quality match I’ve seen him play. But that brought him to the doorstep of Mr. Sinner in the Round of 16, who refused to take it easy on the rookie. I was actually surprised with how well the Brazilian fared… 6-7 6-7. He seemed to match, and often surpass, the power that Sinner so effortlessly generates. Jannik had to save 3 set points in the first set tiebreaker. Once again, Joao displayed controlled, confident power that I think will take him far in the remainder of the season. He should also be encouraged by the fact that Sinner dismantled Learner Tien, his rising star rival, with a 6-1 6-2 victory today.
Now, moving onto Novak Djokovic and Jack Draper. Their Round of 16 was probably the best 3-set match of the year thus far. It was an absolutely electric way for Jack to secure his first win against the GOAT. I feel far more comfortable calling Novak the GOAT these days. As a Federer fan, it has always pained me to see Djokovic thrive. But it’s simply undeniable that what he has accomplished over the span of his more than two-decade career is historic. And the level that he continues to display at the ancient age of 38 is hard to believe. I’ll continue to reiterate this in future writings. There was one point in the third set that sort acted as a paradox. A crazy 26 shot rally that had Djokovic take on four full sprints to retrieve lobs/drop shots and then win the point with delicate touch. The best point of the year so far. But while Novak proved to the tennis fandom that he can still make it to any ball(s), that point completely fried his lungs. When he fell to the ground after winning you could see his chest beating profusely. He was exhausted and kept hunching over after many of the subsequent points. His exhaustion led to Draper breaking his serve soon after. It wasn’t until the end of the set that he regained his stamina, and was able to capitalize on a game that Draper played sloppily while serving for the set at 5-4. The final tiebreak was exciting, with more long points. Jack Draper had a lot of pressure on his shoulders as the defending champion. On top of that he has been out with injury for much of the past year and hasn’t been able to build up his ATP points – as loss in this match would have sent his ranking down from 14 to 28. But the young Brit still managed to prevail over one of his childhood heroes.
There was a cost to the physicality of that match though, as Jack Draper faced the human backboard Medvedev today and fell short 1-6 5-7 after showing up with a fraction of his explosiveness and possibly some hinderance from his lingering arm injury. Speaking of hinderance, there was a point in the late second set where Draper thought a ball was out and he slightly lifted his arms in disbelief before continuing the point with Meddy. After about 5 more shots Meddy dumped a backhand into the net and immediately approached the chair asking for a hinderance review due to Draper’s expression. Per the rulebook, Medvedev was right and he got the point. The umpire stated that because Draper strayed from his normal course of movements, which was noticed by Medvedev, it could be considered hinderance. Draper argued that it obviously didn’t hinder Medvedev enough because he continued the point and didn’t miss until multiple shots later. I think that while the call was technically sound, Medvedev certainly played the sleazy lawyer in this scenario. I’ll give it to him, he used the rules to his advantage. But the rules should change and VAR needs to be requested immediately by a player, similar to a challenge. Otherwise they have the advantage of playing the rest of the point freely, knowing that they can get bailed out if they lose it. The crowd definitely didn’t like the call and booed Medvedev like crazy until the match was over – but Draper had already given up after that point. At the handshake they had a conversation about it. Jack showed some class and said he wasn’t mad with Daniil, but he doesn’t think the movement distracted him enough. Meddy said he felt bad about it. All in all, I don’t think Draper had the energy to continue this tournament anyways.
Now, back to our regularly scheduled Alcaraz vs Sinner final?
I’ll just say that Alcaraz unplayable against Norrie tonight. He also hit a topspin backhand lob winner out of the air against Ruud yesterday – I’ve never seen that before.
