By Kien Lee
Joao Fonseca, the teenage breakout star hailing from Brazil, has been unveiled as a new Rolex Testimonee heading into the 2025 season.
At only 18 years of age, Fonseca joins the likes of Jannik Sinner, Carlos Alcaraz, Iga Swiatek and Coco Gauff as the new generation of tennis stars that will adorn Rolex timepieces, taking on ambassadorial duties as Rolex Testimonees and exemplifying the shared core values with the Swiss brand.
Related
Rolex and Tennis: An Endearing Partnership for the Ages
Rolex is the official partner for all 4 Grand Slam tournaments in Tennis, representing the epitome of the sport, held across 3 continents.: Read Story
Fonseca made waves at the ongoing Australian Open, also sponsored by Rolex as Official Timekeeper, by upsetting No. 9 seed Andrey Rublev in the first round. He would exit in the next round, but has put the tennis world on notice, with a culmination of an unbeaten run of 14 matches
Notable achievements also include his winning of the Next Gen ATP Finals (for the best 8 players under 21 years of age) and also a Challenger tournament in Canberra. In 2023, he had also won the US Open junior title and finished the year as the junior Number 1, becoming the first player from Brazil to top the junior rankings.
It was also in 2023 that then-16 year old Fonseca was sponsored by ON, a company in which fellow Rolex Testimonee Roger Federer owns a stake. And that's not where the connection ends as the 112 ranked player reveals that Federer is his idol, even sharing that he once tried to adopt the one handed backhand that the Swiss legend is famed for.
2025 is set to be a breakout season for the young teenager, with all eyes on whether he will build on his performances so far, and to his credit, Fonseca embodies the values treasured by Rolex - the perpetual quest for excellence, the desire for technical precision, unwavering effort.