Tennis player João Fonseca already has a set date and place to return to the courts after reaching the quarterfinal stage at the Roland Garros tournament. From Monday, June 15th, the current number 1 in Brazil and 25th in the world rankings will compete in the ATP 500 in Halle, Germany. The competition marks the beginning of the grass season for the athlete from Rio, who will try to break personal and national tennis records in the championship.
This will be the third time that the young man coached by Guilherme Teixeira plays in the main draw of the German tournament. Recent retrospect shows progress, although João Fonseca is still chasing the first positive result in the event. On his debut in 2024, when he was ranked 217th at the age of 17, he ended up being surpassed by Australian James Duckworth by the score of double 6/4. In the 2025 edition, already consolidated as 57th in the world, the Brazilian had the chance to close the game, but suffered an upset against the Italian Flávio Cobolli.
The tennis player’s overall record on grass records three victories in seven matches played on the professional circuit. Positive results were achieved last season: one of them at the ATP 250 in Eastbourne, in British territory, and two others during the Wimbledon Grand Slam campaign.
Marcelo Melo has a winning record for Brazilians in the tournament
Brazil’s retrospective in the German competition has Marcelo Melo from Minas Gerais as its main highlight. The double player is the only representative from the country to lift the cup in the history of Halle, adding three titles in the sport.
Marcelo Melo’s most recent championship in the tournament took place in 2023, playing alongside Australian John Peers. The athlete from Brazil had already won the competition in two consecutive seasons, in 2017 and 2018, in partnership with Polish Lukasz Kubot.
Alexander Zverev leads the list of favorites and is also seeking an unprecedented title
The main seed for the ATP 500 in Halle will be the host Alexander Zverev, who arrives motivated by winning the Roland Garros title. Current number 3 in the ATP rankings, the tennis player from Germany is trying to end his own drought on grass courts, a surface where he has accumulated 45 triumphs in 68 matches played, but no trophy in his career.
The German’s record in Halle shows 21 wins and nine defeats. Alexander Zverev has reached the semi-final stage in the last three editions and finished runner-up on two occasions:
- In 2016, when he was defeated by compatriot Florian Mayer.
- In 2017, surpassed by the Swiss Roger Federer.
The setback against Florian Mayer even marked the last time that a tennis player from Germany won the tournament title. In addition to the stumbles in Halle, the home athlete suffered another runner-up finish on grass last season, when he lost the final in the Stuttgart tournament. The Halle championship serves as the main preparatory event for the Wimbledon tournament, which is scheduled to start on June 29th.