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ROLAND GARROS – Hours before 18-year-old Brazilian Joao Fonseca was to take to Court 7 for his Roland Garros main draw debut, there were lineups.
Queues are, it should be said, a staple of Roland Garros and all the Grand Slams: for coffee, for beer, for the bathroom, to get into the merch shop, to access a coveted outside court.
But this one was top-shelf in that regard, with those lineups forming hours before Fonseca was to play Hubert Hurkacz on the first Tuesday of this year’s event. It was one of the last first-round matches to get on court.
And by the time Fonseca completed his 6-2, 6-4, 6-2 win over a depleted Hurkacz, still reeling from a devastating marathon defeat to Novak Djokovic in Geneva just a days before, it was officially a frenzy.
Look at the people standing up on the balconies of Court Philippe-Chatrier, overhanging the court.
And when it was over, a huge crowd gathered outside Court 7 hoping to get an autograph, a selfie – or even a glimpse of the personable young player already anointed “the next one” in a fast-moving scene where the “current ones” – Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner – haven’t even yet fully come into their own.
Here’s what it looked like.
It would have been a feeding frenzy for Fonseca to get off that court and through those throngs.
So – much to their disappointment – the media-relations folks, after the on-court television interviews were done – (probably) wisely snuck him out another entrance and out of the fray.
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