Brazilian João Fonseca is out of the ATP 250 in Adelaide, Australia. This Saturday (10), the Rio de Janeiro tennis player published a video on the social network Instagram, in which he communicates his withdrawal due to lower back pain. It is the same injury that already took him out of the ATP 250 in Brisbane, also on Australian soil, and from Brazil’s commitment against Canada for the Davis Cup, a tournament equivalent to a men’s World Championship for national teams in tennis.
“Unfortunately, I had to withdraw from the Adelaide tournament. I’m experiencing back pain and trying to recover as quickly as possible to be 100% back on the court,” declared the 19-year-old from Rio de Janeiro in the video.
Fonseca is racing against time to compete in the Australian Open, the first of the four major tournaments on the circuit – the so-called Grand Slams – of the season. After posting on social media, he gave a press conference in Adelaide. According to the Brazilian, the lower back pain has been chronic.
“I was born with something on my back and sometimes it gets more painful. I had a stress fracture five years ago, but it’s something that will be in my body, so I need to deal with it. We did an MRI and it’s nothing too serious, but it could get serious, so we want to be 100%,” said Fonseca.
The Brazilian is ranked 29th in the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) rankings . He dropped five positions compared to 2025 after missing the Brisbane ATP tournament, and is expected to lose a few more places due to his absence in Adelaide. Even so, he is guaranteed a spot as one of the 32 seeded players at the Australian Open, which means avoiding a match against a top-30 player in the world, at least in the first two rounds.
