Roland Garros, after Sinner falls Djokovic: rising star Fonseca pulls off feat

After Jannik Sinner, it’s Novak Djokovic’s turn: Roland Garros loses another major player in two days. The Serbian star, who dreamed of taking advantage of the simultaneous absence of the Blue and Carlos Alcaraz to win his 25th Slam, was defeated in five sets by the new rising star of the ATP circuit, Joao Fonseca.

The Portuguese star number 30 in the world was the protagonist of a crazy comeback, winning 3-2 with the scores of 4-6, 4-6, 6-3, 7-5, 7-5 in a match that lasted almost five hours. After this prestigious victory, Fonseca will face the winner of the match between Norway’s Ruud and America’s Paul in the third round.

To give an idea of the magnitude of Fonseca’s feat, it should be noted how the Portuguese inflicted Djokovic his second career defeat after winning the first two sets in a Slam. The only one who had succeeded in such a miracle had been the outsider Melzer, 16 years ago also at Roland Garros.

After losing the first two partials against the more experienced Serb, the Portuguese star managed not to lose his mental toughness and slowly got back into the match, abetted by the physical decline of the Belgrade champion, who in the final part of the match felt all his 39 years. Fonseca’s greater freshness eventually made the difference.

Now Roland Garros is in uncharted lands: in fact, none of the remaining tennis players still competing has ever won a Slam. It could be the turn of Alexander Zverev, who is still looking for his first claim in such an important tournament, but watch out for the terrible boys Jodar and Fonseca as well. Or another outsider could still come out on top: anything can happen now.