Fonseca on his dream dinner guests and how he would change history!
Joao Fonseca is set to make history this week in Jeddah, where he will become the first Brazilian to compete at the Next Gen ATP Finals presented by PIF.
The 18-year-old may have a big future ahead of him on the ATP Tour, but he is also clear about which past Grand Slam classic sticks most in his memory. Earlier this year, Fonseca spoke to ATPTour.com about his wish to change the outcome of that match, his off-court hobbies and more.
[ATP APP] If you could have dinner with any three people in history, who would they be?
I would say Roger [Federer]. I’ve not met Roger yet, but he’s my idol in tennis. [Basketballer] Kobe Bryant: his type of play, it was incredible. Then I would say my dad, because he would help me to ask about the things I want to ask, but which are difficult to express sometimes in English.
If you could switch places with one person in the world for a day, who would it be?
A difficult question. I don’t want to say Roger, I want to say a person not in tennis. Maybe someone in soccer, like Cristiano Ronaldo. I could also say Neymar, maybe because he’s Brazilian, but probably Ronaldo.
Is there any particular match that you remember watching from years gone by on TV, that you wish you could have played?
The one in 2019, when Roger had match point against [Novak] Djokovic at Wimbledon. I wish I would be Roger, so I could make an ace at 40/15 [on championship point]. I want to change history!
What’s something cool you’ve done off the court because of being a tennis player?
At the Rio Open, I visited a programme that works with people from the favela. Humble people that don’t have a lot of money and it teaches them how to play tennis. And when they saw me, I was like, ‘Okay, I’m just a guy that is your age’, just trying to help and teach tennis. That was very nice for me. And for me, that was a very special day. I helped a lot of kids, to help inspire them to play tennis.
And what are your biggest off-court hobbies?
I’ve loved to play sports since I was a kid. I’d say that until I was 11 or 12, I played all sports. I live near the beach, so I surfed, I climbed with my dad, I cycled a lot also. I played soccer too, so I liked to play as many sports as I could. My mum was a volleyball player, so I also played volleyball, which I loved. So that’s my hobby too. In my days off I like to play some sports.
You get to travel a lot in tennis. If there’s one place you could visit anywhere in the world not for a tennis tournament, where would it be?
I would say Japan or maybe Greece. Greece is nice.
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