“Fonseca reminds me of like a mini-Sinner” – Michelsen

American teen Alex Michelsen has described Joao Fonseca as a mini-Jannik Sinner, saying that the Brazilian hits the ball in the same manner as the world No 1 from Italy.

Michelsen and Fonseca are both in Jeddah this week for the Next Gen ATP Finals but are drawn in different groups. In their only meeting on tour yet, Fonseca came from a set down to beat Michelsen 4-6, 6-0, 6-2 in the first round of this year’s Madrid Masters but the earliest they could meet this week is in the semi-final round.

“Fonseca absolutely waxed me in Madrid. I know he can play – he’s gonna be sick,” Michelsen said on The Sit-Down podcast. “He reminds me of like a mini-(Jannik)Sinner. The way he hits the ball is kind of the same. I played them both… the way they hit the ball, you don’t come by that very often.”

Speaking of the other players in the field, Fonseca said, “I haven’t played Fils yet, but obviously he’s won a couple of 500s this year, he’s playing sick. I played Mensik and Jerry (Shang) in juniors actually … plenty of times and they were very, very good. I train with Learner and it will be interesting if we get to play each other. We’ll see. I’m super happy that he’s doing great as well, he’s a very close friend for me so to see him doing great is amazing.”

The first group matches at the Next Gen ATP Finals begins on Wednesday with Michelsen taking on Nishesh Basavareddy while Fonseca will face top-seeded Fils.

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