Joao Fonseca candidly admitted his attitude on court \u201cneeds to be better\u201d after his third round defeat to Rafael Jodar at the 2026 Madrid Open.<\/p>\n
The world No 31 was beaten 7-6(4), 4-6, 6-1 by 42nd-ranked Jodar<\/a> on Sunday night at the clay-court Masters 1000 tournament in Madrid.<\/p>\n It was Fonseca<\/a>\u2018s first match of the event as he received a walkover from scheduled second round opponent Marin Cilic after getting a first round bye.<\/p>\n After being broken to fall 0-2 behind in the third set, Fonseca\u2019s frustration boiled over as he destroyed his racket on the court.<\/p>\n Fonseca\u2019s racket is GONE \ud83d\udc40 pic.twitter.com\/MgyhP7dX8c<\/a><\/p>\n \u2014 Tennis Masterr (@tennismasterr) April 26, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n The Brazilian did not recover as Jodar raced into a 5-0 lead before sealing the win in emphatic fashion.<\/p>\n In his press conference, Fonseca assessed that mentality was the most important aspect of the match against his fellow 19-year-old.<\/p>\n \u201cNaturally, there was a strategy from a technical standpoint,\u201d Fonseca said.<\/p>\n \u201cHowever, I believe the most important aspect of today\u2019s match was the mental one. We both stepped onto the court with a certain degree of nervousness, which is completely normal.<\/p>\n Madrid Open: Rafael Jodar +8 in ATP Rankings after stunning Joao Fonseca win<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n Carlos Alcaraz injury sparks \u2018very worrying\u2019 comment as icon makes \u2018appeal\u2019 to tennis chiefs<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n Want more from Tennis365? Add us as\u00a0<\/span>a preferred source on Google to your favourites list<\/a>\u00a0<\/span>for tennis coverage you can trust.<\/strong><\/p>\n \u201cIt was my first match in Madrid, while for him it was his third. Furthermore, we were two young players facing each other, which inevitably leads us to overthink things.<\/p>\n \u201cI had the opportunity to break his serve right at the start. At the beginning of the third set, I felt better, even better than him. I had more control of the match.<\/p>\n \u201cHowever, after going up 40-15, when I missed some easy forehands, frustration set in. Clearly, my attitude on the court needs to be better. It\u2019s something we need to work on.<\/p>\n \u201cFrom that moment on, he played better, with less nervousness, and found the right way to take control.<\/p>\n \u201cIn that sense, I feel it was definitely a tough match. My main focus was on the mental aspect, as I knew we were both under pressure. Unfortunately, I wasn\u2019t able to manage it in the third set.\u201d<\/p>\n Fonseca also praised Jodar and addressed the challenge of facing a player younger than him.<\/p>\n \u201cHe\u2019s a great player, achieving impressive results and climbing the rankings very quickly. He has all the qualities to become an extraordinary player,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n \u201cAs I said, facing a younger opponent on the ATP Tour made me a little nervous. It\u2019s a situation we have to get used to and see how we respond to it.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m still working, trying to find aspects that will help me improve both as a person and as a player. I continue to progress, and that\u2019s the key point.<\/p>\n \u201cGoing back on the court, reflecting in the following days on what I could have done better, what attitude would have been more appropriate, and working on it.\u201d<\/p>\n READ NEXT: Sinner GOAT comparison, Djokovic\u2019s vote of confidence, Swiatek\u2019s ranking\u2019s slide<\/a> The post Madrid Open: Joao Fonseca makes blunt \u2018attitude\u2019 confession after smashing racket in Rafael Jodar loss<\/a> appeared first on Tennis365<\/a>.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Joao Fonseca candidly admitted his attitude on court \u201cneeds to be better\u201d after his third round defeat to Rafael Jodar at the 2026 Madrid Open. The world No 31 was beaten 7-6(4), 4-6, 6-1 by 42nd-ranked Jodar on Sunday night at the clay-court Masters 1000 tournament in Madrid. It was Fonseca\u2018s first match of the […]<\/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-2096","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-articles"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2096","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=2096"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2096\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2096"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2096"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2096"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}\n
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