The Miami Open director explained how one crowd favourite was ‘different’ to Djokovic and co. (Image: Getty)
Joao Fonseca causes a stir almost everywhere he goes. Whenever the Brazilian teenager is on the schedule, there will usually be a long line of fans snaking around tournament grounds to watch him in action. And that’s especially true at the Miami Open, with plenty of Latin American spectators in attendance.
Tournament director James Blake has openly admitted that he learned his lesson when it came to scheduling the 19-year-old’s matches after a gaffe last year. Fonseca was due to face Ugo Humbert on Grandstand, but the match was moved to the Stadium Court at the 11th hour when a gap opened up. Thousands of Brazilian fans, who had been waiting on the Grandstand court all day, were outraged.
Coming into the 2026 edition of the tournament, Blake has already confessed on multiple occasions that he will need to schedule Fonseca’s matches on the near-14,000-strong Stadium Court. And the retired tennis player-turned-tournament director has now explained just how serious the Fonseca-mania is at the Miami Open, claiming the world No. 39 caused scenes that even Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal did not.
Appearing on Andy Roddick’s Served podcast, the Miami Open boss explained: “Joao Fonseca, I learned last year and learned my lesson that he’s one of one here in Miami. I mean, we’ve had great draws here. We’ve obviously had great players, and Roger [Federer], Rafa, Novak, all the top players, we’ve had Juan Martin del Potro, who was extremely popular. But Fonseca is different.”
A former world No. 1 who came up against the Big Three during his own career, Roddick was surprised. “Different than the names you just mentioned?” he asked. But Blake stood by his statement. “Yeah, I’ve never had a security warning from any of them, the way it was last year with him,” he said of Fonseca.
Back in the day, Blake and other tournament directors likely would have prioritised more accomplished players when it came to the schedule, placing them on the biggest courts. But the 46-year-old has learned that he also needs to accommodate fan-favourites, who draw huge crowds wherever they go.
“We’re going to find out just how much this has staying power in, not just the tennis accomplishments, because he would go on Stadium before a lot more accomplished players, [than] [eople that have greater resumes, have done more here at this event, have done more in their careers,” he continued.
Joao Fonseca is a fan favourite at the Miami Open and will play on the Stadium Court all week (Image: Getty)
“And so that’s where you have to make that determination. And I’m assuming you’re talking about [Alexandra] Eala as well, where she is a phenomenon, and she’s got fans everywhere in the world now. And so that makes it so that you have to kind of readjust your assessment. I feel like when I first started this tournament, I would look at, ‘Okay, so and so has got two Grand Slams, so and so has got four Grand Slams’. So the four Grand Slams are going on Stadium, and the two Grand Slams are going on Grandstand. And it was very much their tennis-based resume.
“And with Fonseca, that’s changed a bit because of how popular he is here in Miami. And I don’t speak for other tournaments because I don’t know if it’s the same when he’s in Rome or when he’s in Shanghai. But here in Miami, he is one of one.”
This year, Fonseca played his opening match against Fabian Marozsan on the Stadium Court, and the fans were right behind him, chanting his name as he clinched a 6-4 3-6 6-2 victory. Now, Blake will absolutely have no choice but to schedule the teenager on the centre stage again, as he faces world No. 1 Carlos Alcaraz next.
This will be Fonseca’s first official meeting with seven-time Major champion Alcaraz. They met in an exhibition match in Miami’s loanDepot Park during the off-season, but they’ve never faced off on tour – until now. If the Fonseca-mania has been wild already, it’s about to get a whole lot more intense as the world No. 39’s supporters will no doubt be back to try and encourage him to cause his biggest upset yet.
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