Fonseca & Eala Might Be Overhyped

Tennis is in great hands because we have Sinner and Alcaraz—two fantastic sportsmen and incredible players—and we will have a blast watching these two guys compete. We have also seen other young stars like Mensik, Jovic, Diallo, and Andreeva. However, the two young players who have recently received the most hype are Fonseca and Eala.

Fonseca won his first match at Roland Garros against Hurkacz, who perhaps was not 100% fresh as he had played the Geneva final against Djokovic two days earlier. But Eala, even though I picked her to win the first round against Arango, lost. Since making the semifinals in Miami, she hasn’t performed well on clay. I’ve read some comments where people say both players are overhyped, but are they?

Big Fluke

First, Emma Raducanu received many similar statements—that she got lucky at the US Open in 2021. People say that Eala's making the semifinals in Miami and beating three Grand Slam champions consecutively was just a fluke. There is no such thing in tennis. You have a bigger chance of winning the lottery than winning the US Open or making the semifinals of Miami, and on top of that, beating Ostapenko, Keys, and Swiatek. This has absolutely nothing to do with luck.

Eala is a phenomenal, very talented player, and it makes sense that people are excited about her game. Because of that result in Miami, she did get hyped up. She got a lot of attention. She was unknown before that tournament, but became a superstar. That happens in tennis when you produce good results, especially if you’re a young player.

Now, as some people believed, it was very probable that she would struggle right after the Miami tournament. First of all, even if she had played on her preferred surface, hard court, there’s still a chance she would have struggled because she was virtually unknown. Suddenly, she becomes a superstar—there’s tremendous pressure. But on top of that, after the tournament in Miami, she had to transition to clay, and the way Eala plays doesn’t translate well to clay courts.

Hard Transition

She likes to take the ball early, so when somebody gives her a little bit more height, she likes to take the ball on the rise and lean into it. This is difficult to do on clay because the bounce is unpredictable. She returned so amazingly well at the tournament in Miami, but the return of serve, which she also takes early, is more challenging on clay because of the bounce. All this was evident in her first-round match against Arango.

So Eala is not overhyped. I don’t think she got lucky in Miami, nor was it a fluke. Clay is not her favorite surface, and what I would do if I were her is play an ITF on grass, because I think Eala can do well on grass. She likes coming forward, and the lefty serve will be more difficult to return on grass. So, because it’s slow, I don’t think it will matter as much on grass as on other surfaces.

Fonseca’s Season

In Fonseca’s case, it’s an entirely different scenario, even though both Eala and Fonseca have similar rankings. Fonseca had a slow and steady rise, winning the Next Gen Finals last year and then playing incredible tennis in 2025: winning two Challengers, winning Canberra before the Australian Open (in which he beat Rublev in a spectacular match), then he won a Challenger in Phoenix, beating some tough players. Then he won a few rounds in Miami and lost a challenging game to Alex de Minaur.

Now, before those hard-court tournaments in Indian Wells, Phoenix, and Miami, Fonseca played the clay swing in South America, in which he did phenomenally well. He won his first tournament in Buenos Aires and then went over to Rio, which is a difficult tournament for him because there’s tremendous pressure. He is incredibly famous already, with over a million followers on Instagram. Last year, he did well in Rio, but this year, maybe he was also a little tired from the tournament in Buenos Aires and lost in the first round.

Disappointing Clay Swing

Going into the clay court season after Miami, I thought Fonseca would do much better, but he hit a roadblock. He hasn’t been playing as well as I thought he would. And of course, very similar to Eala, people quickly start writing negative comments. But to me, the difference between the Eala hype and the Fonseca hype is that with Fonseca, it’s more about his actual game that people are hyped up about.

When you look at his forehand and backhand, it’s very similar to Sinner's and Alcaraz's speed and RPMs. In Eala’s case, she plays phenomenal tennis, but it was more than that result in Miami that people got hyped about.

Final Thoughts

Rafael Nadal retired from the Davis Cup last year. It was probably one of the worst retirement tributes I’ve seen in sports. That is why Roland Garros gave Rafa a great tribute on Court Phillipe Chatrier. Nothing else comes close, and it puts what they did for Rafa Davis Cup to shame. There were so many exceptional moments in this tribute. The video they played alone in the stadium was incredibly touching. Rafa gave a very touching speech in French, Spanish, and English.

Then came something super emotional—the Big Four reunited on the court. What Rafa said about their rivalries was so touching, and Rafa probably thought it would be over at that point. But something incredible came right after: the permanent plaque of Rafael Nadal on the court. Carlos Alcaraz and Iga Swiatek were in the crowd, wearing the red “Merci Rafa” shirts sold on the Internet for 500 euros. Although Rafa was never my favorite player, I respect his accomplishments and thank him for his positive impact on tennis.