João Fonseca beats Hubert Hurkacz in French Open debut
PARIS — João Fonseca is making a habit of drawing big crowds at tennis tournaments — and of beating seeded opponents in his Grand Slam debuts.
The 18-year-old from Brazil delighted a loud and overflowing group of spectators at 1,500-capacity Court 7 and won the first French Open match of his nascent career, beating 30th-seeded Hubert Hurkacz 6-2, 6-4, 6-2.
'I'm young, and I'm getting the experience of everything now,' Fonseca said. 'So I'm learning a lot from this circuit and this environment.'
Fonseca needed just 1 hour, 40 minutes to wrap up the victory, producing more than twice as many winners, 36, as unforced errors, 15, and repeatedly delivering booming forehands.
'I mean, he's (got) a very powerful game,' said Hurkacz, who reached the Wimbledon semifinals in 2021 by beating Roger Federer in the last match of the 20-time major champion's career. 'He's definitely an all-around player and can develop a lot. It's difficult to play against him.'
All along, Fonseca heard plenty of support from the Brazilians who haven't had a Grand Slam champion to cheer for since Gustavo Kuerten was winning three French Open titles in 1997, 2000 and 2001.
Fonseca, the 2023 U.S. Open junior champion and currently ranked 65th, played his first match in the main draw of a major at the Australian Open in January, when he knocked off No. 9 seed Andrey Rublev.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Associated Press
23 minutes ago
- Associated Press
French Open tennis players say nasal strips aren't just for snoring
PARIS (AP) — If more tennis players find themselves breathing easier, it might just be thanks to Carlos Alcaraz. The four-time Grand Slam champion, whose bid for a second consecutive French Open title was scheduled to continue with a third-round match Friday night, has often worn a nasal strip in matches since last season — although not during his first two contests at Roland-Garros this week — and the sport's other athletes took note. After all, if Alcaraz finds something useful on the court, their thinking goes, maybe it makes sense to give the adhesive bands a shot. 'I saw Carlos playing in it,' said 18-year-old Mirra Andreeva, a semifinalist in Paris last year and the No. 6 women's seed this time. 'I'd be pretty interested to try and see if there is really a difference. If he plays matches in it, then probably there is.' At the 2024 season-ending ATP Finals last November, Alcaraz said: 'It is something that I'm going to wear more often. I could recover better between points.' Once associated with Pro Football Hall of Famer Jerry Rice and soccer stars like Cristiano Ronaldo and Neymar, the bands, which essentially look like a Band-Aid worn across the bridge of the nose, are popping up on tennis courts — sometimes out of necessity, sometimes out of curiosity. They are designed to open the nostrils slightly, making it easier to breathe through the nose. Originally marketed to reduce snoring, they're being embraced to enhance air intake during physical exertion. The idea is simple: Better breathing could mean better oxygen intake. In practice, the science is less convincing. In 2021, Brazilian academic Ricardo Dinardi reviewed more than 600 studies on nasal strips and found they didn't make a real difference in how much air athletes took in, their heart rate or how strenuous exercise felt. 'The effect on athletic performance is mostly placebo,' Dinardi said. 'But in elite sports, even perceived benefits can count.' Three-time major finalist Casper Ruud, who wore the strips in matches earlier this year, knows the evidence is shaky. But he still liked using them — both on the court and while sleeping. Like Alcaraz, Ruud did not wear one in Paris before his second-round exit. But he has been testing a prototype of a different version. 'I tried out a device that's very early in development. It will be a bit more comfortable to wear, because it's inside the nose and it looks like I have this bullring under,' said Ruud, who was the runner-up at Roland-Garros to Rafael Nadal in 2022 and Novak Djokovic in 2023. 'It will return, don't worry.' For other players, like Nicolás Jarry, the strips are more than a trend — they're a necessity. After nasal surgery in 2020, the Chilean still needed help to draw air into his nose, so he puts them on for every practice and every match he plays. 'Without it, I cannot breathe. My nostrils shut when I try,' he said, inhaling to demonstrate for a reporter. 'Others don't have that issue and still use them.' Jarry definitely has noticed a recent spike in interest among players. He said that even though he's worn the strips for years, including at this French Open, other competitors on tour never asked about them — until Alcaraz started wearing one last year, sometimes in black, sometimes in pink. 'Others have asked me, and many are trying it,' said Jarry, who sported a beige-colored strip in Paris. 'But before him? Nothing.' There are those, like 2024 US Open runner-up Jessica Pegula, who are tempted to try. 'I have a horrible deviated septum. I can't really breathe out of one side of my nose,' said Pegula, who will play 2023 Wimbledon champion Marketa Vondrousova in the third round Saturday. 'Maybe I should start wearing one.' She admits, though, that the aesthetic aspect might be a deal-breaker. 'I don't know,' Pegula said with a smile, 'if I have the confidence to rock one.'
Chicago Tribune
24 minutes ago
- Chicago Tribune
Why are tennis players at the French Open wearing nasal strips?
PARIS — If more tennis players find themselves breathing easier, it might just be thanks to Carlos Alcaraz. The four-time Grand Slam champion, whose bid for a second consecutive French Open title was scheduled to continue with a third-round match Friday night, has often worn a nasal strip in matches since last season — although not during his first two contests at Roland-Garros this week — and the sport's other athletes took note. After all, if Alcaraz finds something useful on the court, their thinking goes, maybe it makes sense to give the adhesive bands a shot. 'I saw Carlos playing in it,' said 18-year-old Mirra Andreeva, a semifinalist in Paris last year and the No. 6 women's seed this time. 'I'd be pretty interested to try and see if there is really a difference. If he plays matches in it, then probably there is.' At the 2024 season-ending ATP Finals last November, Alcaraz said: 'It is something that I'm going to wear more often. I could recover better between points.' Once associated with Pro Football Hall of Famer Jerry Rice and soccer stars like Cristiano Ronaldo and Neymar, the bands, which essentially look like a Band-Aid worn across the bridge of the nose, are popping up on tennis courts — sometimes out of necessity, sometimes out of curiosity. They are designed to open the nostrils slightly, making it easier to breathe through the nose. Originally marketed to reduce snoring, they're being embraced to enhance air intake during physical exertion. The idea is simple: Better breathing could mean better oxygen intake. In practice, the science is less convincing. In 2021, Brazilian academic Ricardo Dinardi reviewed more than 600 studies on nasal strips and found they didn't make a real difference in how much air athletes took in, their heart rate or how strenuous exercise felt. 'The effect on athletic performance is mostly placebo,' Dinardi said. 'But in elite sports, even perceived benefits can count.' Three-time major finalist Casper Ruud, who wore the strips in matches earlier this year, knows the evidence is shaky. But he still liked using them — both on the court and while sleeping. Like Alcaraz, Ruud did not wear one in Paris before his second-round exit. French Open is picking humans over technology — and Novak Djokovic thinks that's a bad callBut he has been testing a prototype of a different version. 'I tried out a device that's very early in development. It will be a bit more comfortable to wear, because it's inside the nose and it looks like I have this bullring under,' said Ruud, who was the runner-up at Roland-Garros to Rafael Nadal in 2022 and Novak Djokovic in 2023. 'It will return, don't worry.' For other players, like Nicolás Jarry, the strips are more than a trend — they're a necessity. After nasal surgery in 2020, the Chilean still needed help to draw air into his nose, so he puts them on for every practice and every match he plays. 'Without it, I cannot breathe. My nostrils shut when I try,' he said, inhaling to demonstrate for a reporter. 'Others don't have that issue and still use them.' Jarry definitely has noticed a recent spike in interest among players. He said that even though he's worn the strips for years, including at this French Open, other competitors on tour never asked about them — until Alcaraz started wearing one last year, sometimes in black, sometimes in pink. 'Others have asked me, and many are trying it,' said Jarry, who sported a beige-colored strip in Paris. 'But before him? Nothing.' There are those, like 2024 US Open runner-up Jessica Pegula, who are tempted to try. 'I have a horrible deviated septum. I can't really breathe out of one side of my nose,' said Pegula, who will play 2023 Wimbledon champion Marketa Vondrousova in the third round Saturday. 'Maybe I should start wearing one.' She admits, though, that the aesthetic aspect might be a deal-breaker. 'I don't know,' Pegula said with a smile, 'if I have the confidence to rock one.'
Forbes
26 minutes ago
- Forbes
Haier's Sporty TV Push Highlights Lofty Ambitions
Haier Europe CEO Neil Tunstall speaking recently at Roland Garos. Chinese brand Haier, which started life back in the 1980s as a provincial refrigerator manufacturer, has established itself - in terms of market share at least - as one of the biggest brands in consumer tech. In fact, Haier Europe - which is part of the recently re-branded Haier Smart Home - is the No. 1 company globally in major appliances, and has been for more than 15 years now. But the brand still suffers somewhat from an identity problem. And that problem is that a lot of people can't identify it at all. While other brands in the overall Haier Group - think Hoover in the UK and GE Appliances in the US - are well-known entities, the Haier name itself is one that (outside of China, at least) has nowhere near the recognition of more mainstream established appliance brands it outsells, such as LG and Samsung, as well as fast-emerging neighbors like Hisense and TCL. But that's a situation that is likely to change, given the brand's recent push into major sporting sponsorship (the likes of the Australian Open and French Open tennis majors) as well as its expansion into markets outside of appliances. I recently covered Haier's global partnership with KEF. The deal will see KEF co-engineer the sound systems for Haier's upcoming Mini LED and QLED TV lines - including the likes of the M96, M92, M80, and S90 series - which are all set to roll out across 2025. KEF, if you're unaware, make seriously high-end speakers. We're talking five or even six figure price-tags on some of the range, so it's safe to assume that Haier is going after the top-end of the TV market. That was very much the message that Haier Europe CEO Neil Tunstall gave to me, at the launch of the brand's new tennis-based web-series Road to Number One. 'We're not interesting in selling cheap, LCD, HD TVs,' he told me. "That's useless for us and there's no point in going there. 'We're doing it for two reasons. Firstly we should, of course, make money in the TV market. I think also, when you talk about the smart home then it's probably the most visible thing. 'It sits in your lounge, so let's get in there. Let's make sure it has all the apps and everything's working and complete the circle of all the products.' The high-end approach mirrors what Haier has done with its moniker on the likes of washing machines, refrigerators and cooking appliances. But the brand is well aware it needs to make much more of a dent into consumer consciousness before it's widely considered a premium brand; hence the high-profile sports partnerships. 'In the premium market, it's rare that someone will buy something that they haven't heard of,' Tunstall explained to me. 'You have to have the brand awareness and the desirability or you're not going to succeed.' Haier's clearly in this for the long game. It may already be number one in appliance sales, but in a market where perception is everything, the real match is just getting started.
