João Fonseca reaches surprising milestone at Roland Garros; understand
João Fonseca has been making history on clay at Roland Garros and, by qualifying for the quarter-finals of the tournament, he also achieved a surprising milestone in the history of Grand Slams.
After the victory against Casper Ruud in the round of 16 of the Paris Open, which lasted 3 hours and 55 minutes, the Brazilian became the fifth player with the longest time on the court until the quarter-finals of a Grand Slam. The numbers take into account editions from 1991 onwards, when the ATP began recording match times.
In total, João needed 14 hours and 29 minutes in four games to reach the quarterfinals of Roland Garros, being 4 hours and 53 minutes only in the victory against Novak Djokovic, in the third round.
Italian Matteo Arnaldi broke the time record in this edition of Roland Garros, with an impressive 17 hours and 42 minutes on the court so far. Arnaldi beat Nicklas Kulti, who needed 15 hours and 44 minutes to reach the quarter-finals of the tournament in 1992.
Of the top 5 indicated by the ATP itself, four of the fastest times are precisely on the Parisian clay, with only one occurring at the US Open.
Longest time on court until the quarter-finals of a Grand Slam
- Matteo Arnaldi - Roland Garros 2026 - 17h 42min
- Nicklas Kulti - Roland Garros 1992 - 15h 44min
- Alberto Costa - Roland Garros 2003 - 15h 2min
- Ivan Lendl - US Open 1992 - 14h 42min
- João Fonseca - Roland Garros 2026 - 14h 29min
João Fonseca in the quarterfinals
João Fonseca faces Jakub Mensik this Tuesday (2) in a duel valid for the quarterfinals of Roland Garros. The clay court match will be the last on the Philippe-Chatrier court, the main court of the French Open, and will begin no earlier than 3:15 pm (Brasília time).
During the campaign, João beat Casper Ruud, Novak Djokovic, Dino Prizmic and Luka Pavlovic.
By reaching this stage, the 19-year-old from Rio surpassed a record that belonged to Gustavo Kuerten, known as Guga, who had reached the quarterfinals of Roland Garros in 1997, at the age of 20, a campaign that ended with the first of his three titles on Parisian clay.
In addition to breaking the precocity record, João also ended a long absence in Brazilian men's tennis. The last time a representative of the country reached the quarterfinals of a Grand Slam in men's singles was Guga, at Roland Garros in 2004.
Jakub Mensik, currently number 27 in the ATP rankings, reached the quarter-finals after a huge victory against Russian Andrey Rublev.
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Source: CNN