The stage was set in Madrid. The only teenagers in the ATP Top 100 faced each other for the first time. Both carrying the weight of some ever-distant \"future of tennis\". One loses, gets called overrated, unsubstantiated hype, flop. The other, the real deal, the next Rafa Nadal, the one who will disrupt the Sinner-Alcaraz dual dynasty.
Of course, tennis is played over many tournaments, over many months, different conditions, different surfaces, and players ride momentum, get big wins, then fall back a little and struggle with tough losses.
As such, Joao Fonseca and Rafa Jodar benefit most not of the hype trains departing the station of Tennis Twitter, with the insanely hyperbolical cries from Tennis TV social media coordinators at every winner. They benefit of the calm. The quiet. The time to think, to assess their mistakes and acknowledge the positive and negative from each match. They need our patience.
Jodar is not Alcaraz. He is really freaking good, and I really am excited to see him develop into a Top 10 player threatening to win the biggest titles. But there's a lot of road ahead for him to get disappointed, to lose from match point up, to play a terrible match in windy conditions, serve under 50% first serves in a match. He'll have that, and he'll be alright.
Fonseca has had his moment last year. He came, he played, he conquered. Now the other players know him. They work with their coaches to find strategies to exploit his weaknesses and neutralize his forehand. He is getting frustrated, probably, by not having another big win under his belt and a deep run in a big tournament. But it will come. Fonseca will work with his own team to hide his weaknesses, to improve his game, and to find a way to crack into the Top 10 and, along with Jodar, to also be a big threat to win the biggest trophies in tennis.
All in due time. All in their own timeline.
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