Joao Fonseca stepped onto the courts of Melbourne Park, 12 months after he set them alight with a stunning qualifying run, and a Rd.1 smashing of Andrey Rublev.
This year though, things were different. Fonseca found himself seeded at the Australian Open. He found himself with expectation. Not just his own, but from millions of fans around Brazil, and the rest of the world.
He also found himself in a position where his body wasn’t co-operating. Fonseca had planned to play Brisbane and Adelaide as lead-ups, but had to withdraw from both with back issues, that arose in practice 2 days before Brisbane.
Despite the limited preparation, he was expected to move past American, Eliot Spizzirri. But Spizzirri had other ideas, and kept the pro-Fonseca crowd quiet through the match.
Fonseca said his back wasn’t sore anymore, but a lack of preparation wasn’t ideal.
I didn’t feel it [his back] today. Didn’t feel it yesterday. Yeah, feeling good. I think it’s already 100%.
I felt I played good. I felt I wasn’t 100% yet. I’m not saying about pain or injuries. I’m saying about preparation of physique.
I will say I needed more time. Since beginning of Brisbane, I wasn’t playing, and then I came back, but slowly. Then I stopped again. I was almost 15 days without hitting 100%.
I got slowly back on court here in Melbourne, so I felt I needed more rhythm. I needed more time to prepare physique.”
He also gave a lot of credit to Spizzirri, who played a high level match.
“I think he served really well. He put a lot of returns. That’s one thing that the top players do a lot, they put a lot of pressure on the guy’s return.
I mean, they put a lot of balls, and they put a lot of pressure on your service game. He did it really well today. I think he served plus one as well. I think he stayed really well mentally. Maybe if I got the first game in the third set that I had Love-40, but he stayed low. He closed the doors. After this, he kept with the intensity, and I couldn’t hold it.
I think he played well, and congrats to him.”
While mentally he said the injury may have affected him slightly, Fonseca never used it as an excuse for the loss.
“I would say [I was] not as confident. Maybe not feeling 100% ready, but at the same time, when I stepped on court I was giving 100%. Today wasn’t the day. But I think I’m still confident, I’m still playing good. I’m having some good practices. I just need rhythm. I think this season is going to be great for me.”
As he looks forward to the rest of the season, the transition back to clay for the South American swing will start after just a single hardcourt match. Fonseca is pragmatic in his response to this predicament.
It is strange, but tennis life is like this. I worked a lot to play minimum three weeks. Hopefully four or five. But unfortunately I only played one match. That’s tennis life.
Now back to Brazil and practice on clay, and playing Buenos Aires and Rio Open. It’s the next two goals.”
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