After the breakthrough, the explosion

Fonseca didn’t shine on grass last year, but he had already shown some very good things. I think this year he’s going to get good results on this surface because he can play well on it.

He lost in the deciding tie-break against Cobolli in this tournament last year, then he lost to Fritz 7–5 in the third set in Eastbourne and skipped Wimbledon against a red‑hot Jarry. I see a lot of positives in how he discovered grass last year. He had already played on it in 2024, but it hadn’t been very conclusive. The only thing that bothers me a bit on this surface is his return quality. It’s a big area he still needs to work on, as we saw against Mensik, especially at Roland-Garros. In terms of his game, he has everything to play well on it, with great net play, an aggressive style, shots that can be very flat, but also very good movement quality on grass. We saw him last year diving and sliding several times. He doesn’t seem afraid of sliding, quite the opposite, and I love that.

It’s a match that’s right in his wheelhouse coming up against the local Hanfmann, who can sometimes be a tricky opponent, but who is not outstanding on grass. On the contrary, his level of play drops, and he also has huge problems on return. I’m not even talking about his movement quality. He’s a very tall player, who struggles in defensive phases and even more so on this slippery grass. Last week in Stuttgart, he got through one round before losing to Bellucci, but he absolutely failed to get a break in either of his two matches. Yes, the conditions were fast, but that will be the case again this week, and unless he plays an excellent match, I think he’s going to get cooled off properly.