Although he has not yet confirmed his participation in the Australian Open, João Fonseca is already training in Melbourne, and his name is in the main draw. Now, after this Thursday’s draw, the number 1 in Brazil and 30th in the world, also has his first opponent in the tournament: it will be the American Eliot Spizzirri, 89th in the world rankings.
It will be the second meeting between Fonseca and Spizzirri on the circuit. The two dueled at the 2024 US Open, in the third round of qualifying, and the American came out on top by 7/6(8), 6/7(5) and 6/4. Despite the negative history, it’s not bad to face the 89th in the world in the debut, especially in the current scenario, in which the Brazilian arrives in Melbourne without having played official matches this year.
Fonseca had planned to compete in the ATP 250s in Brisbane and Adelaide before the Australian Open, but withdrew from both because of a lower back injury. Last week, when announcing that he would not play in Adelaide, the 19-year-old from Rio explained that he would continue trying to recover to be 100% in Melbourne and highlighted that the decision about playing in the Australian Open had not yet been made.
