Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner may be the dominant forces in the men\u2019s game, yet the new \u2018Big 2\u2019 could soon have company at the top of the rankings.<\/p>\n
A glut of exciting young players are bursting through the ranks, with the next generation rapidly catching up on the current giants at the top of the game.<\/p>\n
Now respected coach Patrick Mouratoglou has given his verdict on the four players he believes are ready to challenge at the top of the sport and he started with\u00a0Jo\u00e3o Fonseca.<\/p>\n
The Brazilian teenager made a stunning breakthrough as he won his first ATP Tour title in Argentina last month and Mouratoglou \u2013 who is a former coach of Serena Williams \u2013 has joined the chorus suggesting he is a star in the making.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe just won his first ATP title on clay, but don\u2019t be fooled, his game translates to any surface,\u201d wrote Mouratoglou on LinkedIn.<\/p>\n
\u201cAt just 18, his confidence is sky-high, and he plays with fearless energy. He already secured a big win on hard courts by defeating Andrey Rublev in the first round of the Australian Open.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe has the weapons to trouble anyone, and this tournament is the perfect stage to showcase his talent.\u201d<\/p>\n
Next on Mouratoglou\u2019s list is American Alex Mickelsen, who reached the last-16 at the Australian Open and is knocking on the door of the top 30 in the rankings heading into Indian Wells.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe American is powerful, aggressive, and already proving he belongs at the top,\u201d said Mouratoglou, who is currently coaching four-time Grand Slam champion Naomi Osaka.<\/p>\n
\u201cAfter his impressive run at the Australian Open where he defeated Tsitsipas and reached the fourth round, he\u2019ll have the full support of the home crowd. We know how dangerous American players can be on home soil.\u201d<\/p>\n
France\u2019s Arthur Fils is now an established ATP Tour player and Mouratoglou suggests the 20-year-old has too much talent not to reach the top of the game.<\/p>\n
The 11 men to win multiple Indian Wells titles: ft Novak Djokovic, Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal<\/a><\/p>\n Carlos Alcaraz and Iga Swiatek backed: T365 Indian Wells Fantasy Predictions<\/a><\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019ve been talking about him for a while now, and for good reason,\u201d he continued.<\/p>\n \u201cHe\u2019s explosive, athletic, and constantly progressing. He hasn\u2019t had his big breakthrough yet, but he\u2019s getting closer. Indian Wells could be the moment he makes his mark.\u201d<\/p>\n Finally, he cast his eye over Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard, who boasts a serve that can test the best in the game, but still lacks the consistency to maintain his form over a full tournament.<\/p>\n \u201cIf you love big serves and aces, this is your guy,\u201d added Mouratoglou. \u201cHe has the best serve on tour right now, and his second serve is just as dangerous as his first.<\/p>\n \u201cHe barely hits double faults and can win free points at any time. A player like this is always a threat in fast conditions.\u201d<\/p>\n READ NEXT: Who is Joao Fonseca, the 17-year-old starlet backed for big things by Novak Djokovic?<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n The post Patrick Mouratoglou gives his verdict on Joao Fonseca as the hype machine builds<\/a> appeared first on Tennis365<\/a>.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner may be the dominant forces in the men\u2019s game, yet the new \u2018Big 2\u2019 could soon have company at the top of the rankings. A glut of exciting young players are bursting through the ranks, with the next generation rapidly catching up on the current giants at the top of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-112","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-articles"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/112","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=112"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/112\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=112"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=112"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=112"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}