Joao Fonseca is one of the most talented young players on tour at the moment and became well-known after his Next Gen Finals win in 2024. The young Brazilian has just entered into the top 100 of the ATP rankings. This is a player we will surely hear a lot about in the coming years and his playing style seem to work well on all surfaces.
Let’s find out more about his career, stats and what racquet Fonseca is using.
Joao Fonseca’s Tennis Racquet
Joao Fonseca’s racquet is the Yonex VCORE 98, however he is using an older version (the 2018 one, allegedly). The racquet is glossy, which is the case with many pro-stock racquets, but the retail editions are matte. Some players use the red/blue one, as with Fonseca, but some have switched to the sand-colored one, as with Tommy Paul. The racquet is customized to the following strung specs according to the talk tennis forum user Conrado85:
Weight: 356g
Balance: 30.9 cm
Swing weight: 332
Which is kind of a spec you would see with a stock Wilson Six One 95. There are still many pros on the tour enjoying a heavy, but head light racquet around 330 swing weight and it’s kind of nice to see a young guy playing with something similar.
I am unsure what string he uses for his racquet, but I would guess the Yonex Poly Tour Strike (in black). According to one commenter, he uses a hybrid of 1.25 and 1.20 PTP Strike.
Biography and Career
Fonseca was born on August 21, 2006, and is at the time of writing just 18 years old. Joao grew up in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, where he started playing tennis already at the age of 4 at the Rio de Janeiro Country Club.
2023 was the year when Joao Fonseca made big progress as a junior. He was the 2023 world champion of the Junior circuit and became the first Brazilian ever to finish the season as number 1 in the junior rankings.
Some highlights included the final of the 2023 Australian Open Boys doubles tournament and when he became the champion of the 2023 US Open Boys singles event.
Same year Fonseca made his ATP debut at the 2023 Rio Open.
First ATP wins
2024 saw Joao Fonseca turn pro and get his first wins on the ATP tour. Following some good results in Challenger events, Joao recorded his first ATP (and also the first ATP 500) win when he defeated Arthur Fils in straight sets at the Rio Open.
In April of 2024, the young Brazilian made his top 300 debut following his first ATP Challenger final at the Paraguay Open.
His Masters 1000 debut came at the Madrid Open where he also recorded his first win at this level, beating Alex Michelsen.
Close to the end of the year, Fonseca qualified for the Next Generation ATP Finals and won the whole event even though he was the lowest ranked player.
2025
So far in 2025 we’ve seen Joao Fonseca make his Grand Slam debut at the Australian Open where he made headlines by defeating 9th seed Andrey Rublev in the first round. He then went out in the 2nd round in an even contest with Lorenzo Sonego.
Info and Stats
- Plays right-handed with two-handed backhand
- Prize money won: $969,986
- Height: 6’1″ (185cm)
- Coach: Guilherme Teixeira
- Career High Ranking: 99 achieved in January 2025
Follow Joao Fonseca
Fans of Fonseca can follow him on Instagram where he has around here 714K followers.
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The same user you cite, Conrado85 posted that a stringer confirmed Fonseca used Poly Tour Strike 1.25 in the mains and 1.20 in the crosses.
On the second page of the thread, he posted an older Fonseca racquet (16×19) that was measured with specs of 356g, 30.9cm balance, and 332 SW.
The 31.8cm balance was a guess someone took, not a confirmed number.
I highly doubt Fonseca raised his balance point by nearly a centimeter while keeping the weight the same and only going up 3 points in swingweight.
Please review that talk tennis thread more carefully.
Fonseca uses Poly Tour Strike 1.25 in the mains and 1.20 in the crosses.
Also, Conrado85 provided more complete racquet specs on page 2 of the thread.