Joao Fonseca has just enjoyed arguably the best week and a half of his young career; however, his run at Roland Garros is now over.
The initial emotions after his defeat will be those of sadness, but with time he will surely come to realise what a monumental achievement this performance actually was.
After all, he has once again given Brazilians a reason to believe again, with a brand of tennis that lit up every court he graced.
In fact, such was Joao Fonseca’s impact, even the great Venus Williams has admitted to having been inspired by his performances at Roland Garros over the past ten days.
How Joao Fonseca has inspired Venus Williams at Roland Garros
Speaking to TNT Sports in a special guest appearance, the legendary American superstar was asked about whether she is still looking to improve her game, given her heavily reduced schedule and age.
Williams insisted that she never stops being inspired, citing Fonseca as an example.
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The 45-year-old claimed: “Oh, yeah, and I’m always inspired by players, and there’s always someone that’s doing something that you need to move on that you can learn from.
“And I think once you stop learning, that it’s best to move on. You know, get out of the game.
“So me watching this week seeing everyone play so well, watching Fonseca, like just gun from anywhere on the court, like, he could hit at the top of the stadium and just gun it for a winner. It’s wild. I love that. So it’s just really inspiring for me.”
Fonseca eclipsed a Juan Martin del Potro feat during his run here in Paris, and it’s expected that he will continue to shatter records long into his career.
Joao Fonseca’s career-best run to the Roland Garros quarter-finals
Unsurprisingly, given this marks just his fifth-ever appearance in the main draw of a Grand Slam, this was the best run of Fonseca’s career at an event of this magnitude.
Previously, he had only ever reached the third round, here in Paris last year and then at Wimbledon.
The 19-year-old started his Roland Garros campaign with a strong win over Frenchman Luka Pavlovic, before being given the unenviable task of trying to topple the in-form youngster Dino Prižmić in the second round.
Falling into a two-set deficit, Fonseca rallied in dramatic fashion to win in five sets and complete his first-ever comeback from two sets to love down.
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He would follow that up with undeniably the greatest win of his career to date, as he beat Novak Djokovic in similar fashion from two sets down.
As he remained in the competition, it felt like his powers were only growing, as he followed that incredible victory up with a rock-solid win over Casper Ruud in the fourth round.
Sadly, Mensik put an end to his fairytale run last night.
