Come To Brazil: Beaten João Fonseca electrifies Miami Open

In the late 90s, I went to the Miami Open for the first time. In those days, it was played in Key Biscayne and known as “The Lipton.” The first match I watched featured Gustavo “Guga” Kuerten. Guga was already a Grand Slam champion by then, and the stands were full. But I was still unprepared for the burst of joyous noise that greeted the first good shot he hit, and every good shot thereafter. It felt like a corner of the grounds had been annexed by Brazil, covered in green and yellow, and renamed Tiny Rio. Even for someone from diverse New York, it was eye-opening. Florida felt like the world.

A quarter of a century later, the tournament has been renamed to emphasize its location, and moved off of an island and into the city’s pro-football stadium. One of the results, as we saw this past week, is that there’s even more room for South Florida’s 400,000-strong Brazilian community to put on their green and yellow and make their noise heard. For the first time since Kuerten retired in 2008, those fans had a homegrown tennis star to cheer in João Fonseca. Seventeen years is a long time to wait, and they made the most of it during his three matches.

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The tournament’s schedulers knew what they had right away. Like Chris Evert when she debuted at the US Open at 15 in 1971, Fonseca began in the main stadium and never left. On Monday, there were two well-known American men, Taylor Fritz and Frances Tiafoe, in action; they ended up in the smaller Grandstand during the afternoon, while Fonseca and his Australian opponent, Alex de Minaur, got the prime-time evening spot in the big house.

“I knew it was going to be crowded, but I didn’t know it was going to be, like, huge,” a wide-eyed Fonseca said.

He described his Miami experience as any 18-year-old might: “Super-cool” and “super-nice.”

“First impression here is just I felt really in Brazil.”

The event may have felt like a make-up for the actual Rio Open, which was played last month. There a tired Fonseca went out in the first round, after winning the title in Buenos Aires two days earlier.

In Miami, it was easy to forget that Fonseca is still just 18, and was still the underdog against the 11th-ranked De Minaur. The Brazilian played like he belonged, through. He powered his ground strokes, dictated the rallies, and hit one ball so hard, he literally came out of one of his shoes.

I felt really in Brazil. João Fonseca on playing the Miami Open

Fonseca came right up to the brink of victory. He won the first set 7-5, had break points at 3-3 and 4-4 in the second, and was up a break early in the third. From there, though, a little of his inexperience showed. He tentatively sliced a backhand into the net on the first of his break points, and overhit a running forehand on the second. In the end, he couldn’t find the shot he needed to crack De Minaur for good.

Credit the Australian, a veteran of many Davis Cup contests past, for holding off the tide of emotion in the building. Afterward, he scrawled “Rio Open” on the camera lens, and couldn’t contain his exhilaration in his post-match interview.

Fonseca chalked the loss up to good play on De Minaur’s part, and overexcitement on his own.

“I had some opportunity to close,” he said. “Then probably I’ll be more hyped during the match. He broke me and he started playing better. He was not missing any ball after that. So, I mean, it was difficult to play.”

Over three matches, Fonseca showed his skill as a player, as well as a precocious ability to engage a crowd. He has the requisite repertoire of fist-pumps and arm flaps—as well as a late racquet slam—but it never felt like overkill. He’s soft-spoken, level-headed, and serious, but not so serious that he couldn’t revel in this moment, even if it ended in defeat.

“People were calling ‘João Fonseca’…I mean, I was just enjoying the moment. Was looking at my coach, just laughing, just enjoying. Those moments are cool. I mean, it’s my job, but it’s the job that I love, so you need to enjoy sometimes.”

“Probably was going to be my last minutes this year in Miami. So, I mean, I was just enjoying.”

Next year, will Fonseca return with a few new, crowd-revving moves in his arsenal? He was asked in his press conf if he had ever watched the sport’s grand showman, Jimmy Connors.

“I never saw him play,” Fonseca said. “But I know, of course, who he is. I didn’t know he loved playing with the crowd. But it’s a nice information. Maybe I can watch some videos.”

Fonseca will take his act to bigger stages in the coming months, but they probably won’t feel like home the way Miami does. For the past week, he and his fans showed us that Florida, and America, is still the world.