French Open: Rafael Jodar and Joao Fonseca, 19, on semi-final collision course at Roland-Garros after gorgeous runs to last-eight

There was a notable altering of the guard in males’s tennis over the previous 4 years, however are a few fresh-faced 19-year-olds ripping up the established order but once more on the French Open?

Previous to Carlos Alcaraz’s maiden Grand Slam victory on the 2022 US Open, Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic had mixed to assert 63 of the final 76 main males’s singles titles. Within the three and a half years since, Jannik Sinner, Alcaraz and Djokovic have shared the following 13 solely amongst themselves.

Till now. There’s assured to be a brand new title on the trophy come Sunday night in Paris, with a pair of supremely gifted youngsters on a possible semi-final collision course within the backside half of the draw – Rafael Jodar and Joao Fonseca.

However what do we all know of the pair taking Paris by storm as they get set for his or her respective quarter-final matches on Tuesday?

Rafael Jodar

Spanish tennis followers could have questioned who would fill the sizeable, flexed-bicep-shaped gap left behind by Nadal when he and his 22 Grand Slam titles retired from the game in 2024.

Alcaraz has gone some method to fill that void with a profession Grand Slam – and 7 main wins – already secured by 22 years of age, however now there is a Rafael namesake difficult for supremacy within the males’s sport, at solely 19.

With Alcaraz absent from Roland-Garros (and Wimbledon) attributable to damage, Jodar has loved a sensational run to the quarter-finals, in solely his second Grand Slam look.

Jodar was ranked exterior the highest 900 on the earth round a 12 months in the past and nonetheless taking part in faculty tennis on the College of Virginia, however his highly effective groundstrokes and pure capacity to maneuver throughout the clay have stood out – and never simply in Paris.

There had been hints in direction of such a storied run within the build-up, with Jodar – nonetheless exterior of the world’s prime 100 in March, however now as much as twenty ninth – claiming a primary Challenger Tour occasion title in April, earlier than following that up with a semi-final run on the Barcelona Open and a pair of quarter-final appearances in ATP 1000 tournaments in Madrid and Rome.

In Madrid, Jodar surprised fifth seed Alex de Minaur – dropping solely 4 video games in securing his first profession win over a top-10 opponent – whereas he added the notable scalp of fellow 19-year-old Fonseca (extra on him in a second) alongside the best way.

The 6ft 4in Madrid native’s run was lastly ended by world No 1 Sinner within the final eight, shedding 6-2 7-6 (7-0), however Jodar definitely left his mark on the four-time Grand Slam winner.

“What a player!” Sinner wrote on the TV digicam lens after his win, earlier than telling Sky Sports activities: “Spain has one more incredible player and it’s great for the sport.”

Following Sinner’s shock second-round exit at Roland-Garros, and given Alcaraz’s absence, world No 3 Alexander Zverev is now favorite to triumph – and he is who stands in Jodar’s means within the quarter-finals on Tuesday.

Zverev is a three-time Grand Slam finalist, and 10-time semi-finalist, who has suffered the misfortune of taking part in within the period of Sinner and Alcaraz’s dominance, in addition to the ultimate throes of Djokovic’s.

However with all three gone from Paris, now’s certainly his time – except Jodar can proceed to defy his tender years and pull off his biggest triumph but!

If Jodar was to succeed in the semi-finals, it may very well be one other teenage tennis prodigy who lies in wait within the ultimate 4, Fonseca.

Joao Fonseca

There’s a lot to hyperlink the 19-year-olds. Each are junior winners on the US Open (Fonseca in 2023, Jodar 2024), the Brazilian is at present one spot under Jodar in each the world rankings (thirtieth) and French Open seedings (twenty eighth) and, as beforehand talked about, he misplaced their solely prior encounter in Madrid, taking place 7-6 (7-4) 4-6 6-1, however he is loved arguably the extra eye-catching run at Roland-Garros to date.

Fonseca took down file 24-time Grand Slam champion Djokovic in an epic third-round encounter during which he recovered from trailing two units to like to triumph 4-6 4-6 6-3 7-5 7-5, the match performed out over 4 hours and 53 minutes in scorching warmth because the temperature reached 33 levels.

Of explicit be aware was the best way during which Fonseca wrapped up the win, discovering himself a break level right down to the never-to-be-discounted Djokovic when serving for the match earlier than firing down three consecutive aces to clinch

Fonseca’s solely prior win over a top-10 opponent got here when asserting himself to the world with a first-round victory over Andrey Rublev on his Grand Slam debut on the 2025 Australian Open

He turned the primary participant born in 2006 to win an ATP Tour singles title in February of that 12 months as, aged 18, he beat Francisco Cerundolo within the ultimate of the Argentina Open ultimate, a end result that made him the tenth youngest champion in ATP Tour historical past and the fourth-youngest since 2000 after Kei Nishikori that notable Spanish duo of Nadal and Alcaraz.

Boris Becker, himself a teenage prodigy when profitable Wimbledon at 17 in 1985, posted on the time on social media: “Watch this young man from Brazil. The sky is the limit…”

Nevertheless it has taken a while for Fonseca to actually soar since.

Whereas a second title swiftly adopted in October of 2025 – beating Alejandro Davidovich Fokina to assert the Swiss Indoors crown – he has in any other case struggled to go deep in tournaments till the French, with third-round showings at Roland-Garros and Wimbledon final 12 months one of the best he’d completed beforehand within the slams.

And Fonseca may, conceivably, have trodden a distinct path. Speaking about his determination to take up taking part in tennis relatively than soccer, he stated: “I really like Neymar’s skills. I loved watching him play.

“However after I was 11 or 12, I had a small damage. I performed with older gamers, however then I fell on my glutes and spent two months injured. I stated, ‘mother, I simply do not need to play soccer anymore, I need to proceed with tennis.'”

Soccer’s loss is definitely tennis’ acquire and it feels prefer it’s out of the blue all coming collectively for Fonseca, who impressed with a quarter-final run on the Monte Carlo Masters throughout the clay-court swing earlier than being crushed by Zverev.

A possible rematch awaits within the ultimate 4, or an all-teenage tussle towards Jodar, offered he first will get previous Twenty sixth-seeded Czech Jakub Mensik on Tuesday, himself a substantial expertise at simply 20 years previous who, most notably, received Masters 1000 even the Miami Open final 12 months – at, sure, 19!

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