What does a successful season look like for 19-year-old Joao Fonseca?

As we make our way toward the 2026 season—which begins Friday, January 2 on Tennis Channel with the United Cup—our Tennis Channel analysts and editors tackle the most important questions of the new year.

First question: What does a successful season look like for Joao Fonseca?

VICTORIA DUVAL: A successful 2026 for Fonseca would see him staying healthy and finishing inside the Top 15. Already at his current career high of No. 24, he should have some favorable draws that will give him opportunities to make the second week a Grand Slam. His best chance might come at Roland Garros on clay, his favorite surface.

COCO VANDEWEGHE: For me, a successful season is for Joao to break into the Top 10. From there you need to preform like a Top 10 player and make the second week of every Grand Slam. Three out of four would be great, but all of them would make for a perfect follow-up to his breakthrough season.

DAVID KANE: For all of Fonseca’s immense potential, there’s still plenty the young Brazilian has yet to achieve, deep runs at Grand Slam and ATP Masters 1000 tournaments chief among them. But what might be an even better marker of success for one who won’t turn 20 until next August is a signature win—ideally over Carlos Alcaraz or Jannik Sinner. Fonseca earned four Top 20 wins in 2025 but just one against the Top 10: Andrey Rublev, at the Australian Open. While that victory proved a calling card for the rest of the season, I want to see him in more big matches against the game’s best—and winning as many as possible.

BRETT HABER: When you crack the Top 25 at age 19, you don’t leave yourself a ton of room for upward mobility. Based on what he accomplished in 2025, I’d say making his first Grand Slam quarterfinal and cracking the Top 20 would be the next logical progression in his evolution.​

PAUL ANNACONE: Fonseca is still so young, and it’s really easy to get too result-oriented. Instead, I would be urging him to stick with his process as it has already helped him achieve a great deal on the ATP Tour. If there is a result to shoot for, it would be a semifinal finish at a Grand Slam or a Masters 1000 final—he has that kind of talent. But more than that, I would be focusing on process, consistency and mental resiliency to guarantee he continues to climb.