LONDON — Joao Fonseca said he will leave Wimbledon encouraged by the progress he has made on grass despite suffering a straight-sets defeat to Roman Safiullin in the third round on Friday.
The Brazilian teenager was beaten 6-3, 6-3, 6-3 by the experienced Russian, who dictated play from the opening game and consistently denied Fonseca opportunities to build momentum.
“It was a difficult match from the start,” Fonseca said. “He put a lot of pressure on me. He’s a player who likes to control the rallies and dictate the pace. He started the points very well, especially on return.”
Fonseca believed his overall performance was not poor but admitted he failed to capitalize on the few opportunities he created.
“I don’t think I played badly,” he said. “I had a few chances to put more pressure on him and make him doubt a little more, but I tried to do my best. It was still a good tournament for me. I’m improving on grass, and that motivates me to continue.”
The 19-year-old said adapting to grass remains one of the biggest challenges in his development because of the short nature of the grass-court season.
“The more time I spend on this surface, the more I improve,” Fonseca said. “Last year I started poorly before playing better in the final weeks. This year has been similar. I clearly need to improve earlier in the grass season, especially in faster conditions. I improve every year, but there is still a lot of work to do.”
Fonseca also praised Safiullin’s ability to raise his level on the most important points, particularly behind his serve.
“He managed the break points very well,” Fonseca said. “He didn’t allow me to take the initiative or develop my game. On those important points, he served well with a lot of variety, and I wasn’t able to create much.”
According to Fonseca, Safiullin’s aggressive court positioning and willingness to attack made it difficult to settle into rallies.
“He was very aggressive, especially in the key moments, often coming to the net and taking risks,” Fonseca said. “I didn’t take my opportunities. That’s also the reality of grass. Returns are difficult, serves are very fast, and the pace he imposed today was very intense.”
Fonseca added that Safiullin’s positioning on return stood out throughout the match.
“He returned very close to the baseline, sometimes even inside it, which made the ball even faster to handle,” Fonseca said. “His timing was excellent. Sometimes I felt I was playing well, but the ball kept coming back so quickly. He controlled most of the rallies.”
Despite the defeat, Fonseca leaves Wimbledon having reached the third round for the first time in his career, another milestone in the rapid rise of one of tennis’ brightest young prospects.
