Sporting Life
Joao Fonseca, 18, offers a sign of tennis’ powerful future: A 181kmh forehand
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Joao Fonseca in action during the Men's Singles match at the Australian Open Grand Slam on Jan 14 in Melbourne.
PHOTO: EPA-EFE
MELBOURNE – When you meet the future and feel its charming, ferocious force, it’s best just to laugh at the ridiculousness of it all. And so when Andrey Rublev, the No. 9 seed, gets flattened in straight sets by an 18-year-old Brazilian qualifier named Joao Fonseca, who’s never even played a Grand Slam match before, he does the smartest thing possible.
He bares his teeth in a sort of disbelieving, dazed grin.
