ATP Tour

Fonseca: After Djokovic 'was destroying me', fifth set 'was all heart’

Joao Fonseca seemed all but out of Roland Garros on Friday when he trailed three-time champion Novak Djokovic two sets to love. Yet the Brazilian mounted a remarkable comeback, eventually earning one of the biggest wins of his career.

“I was not even believing [in] myself,” Fonseca said of his two-set deficit, speaking in his post-match press conference. “It was tough to play against him in the heat. He was destroying me. If I hit it hard, the ball was coming back harder. If I would go higher, he was just doing drop shots and going aggressive.”

But the 19-year-old turned the tide and roared to a 4-6, 4-6, 6-3, 7-5, 7-5 victory after four hours and 53 minutes. How did Fonseca manage to come back and become just the second player to beat Djokovic from two sets to love down?

“I think I just stayed,” Fonseca said. “I just stayed [focused] on point by point, not focusing on that I had three more sets to win. I was just thinking, ‘Let's stay, let's stay’. I figured out he was a little bit more tired and that gave me a little bit more hope.

“When I won the fourth set, I was already tired. The fifth set was all heart. I couldn't even think. I was just trying to go. Yeah, I think when I won the third set, I started believing a little bit.”

Fonseca, 20 years’ Djokovic’s junior, is the first teenager to beat the Serbian at a major. It was also his first tour-level meeting with the former World No. 1 in the PIF ATP Rankings.

“It's difficult to play against him because it just feels that he's putting the ball where he wants,” Fonseca said of Djokovic. “Sometimes the ball is slow and goes deep, and you need to keep your footwork and need to go hard. The guy just [doesn't] give up at any time. He's still 39 and I feel like he's 20. It's just unbelievable.”

The 2024 Next Gen ATP Finals champion, Fonseca is into the fourth round of a major for the first time. 

“I'm just enjoying the moment,” said the 28th seed. “I think just ten minutes after the match I could realise a little bit what I did, what I achieved, how difficult it was, and how amazing it was for me.”

In Djokovic’s post-match press conference, the third seed congratulated the teen, saying Fonseca’s ‘level was amazing’. The two stars shared a warm embrace at net following their epic showdown.

“At the end of the match he just said, ‘Good luck’,” Fonseca shared. “Actually, he said [it] in Portuguese. Something like, ‘Parabens’, which means, ‘Congrats’, in Portuguese. He said, ‘Keep it going, good luck’. For me it was just a pleasure sharing the court with him.”