Joao Fonseca has been one of the biggest breakout stars of the 2025 season. The teenager started his year by qualifying for the Australian Open and upsetting top-10 star Andrey Rublev. A few weeks later, he won his first ATP Tour title in Buenos Aires. Now, he’s gearing up for his Wimbledon main draw debut.
And the world No. 57 has revealed that he’s been helped by an unusual addition to his team, after enlisting a breathing coach. It’s something Jack Draper did ahead of the 2025 season, and it proved successful – the Brit won his first Masters 1000 title, then cracked the world’s top five.
Aged just 18, Fonseca has proven to be a level-headed figure on the court, bouncing back from tough moments. Earlier this year, after Draper thrashed him 6-4 6-0 in Indian Wells, Fonseca won a Challenger trophy days later.
And after losing a brutal opening set to Zizou Bergs in Eastbourne on Monday, he stormed back to win 6-7(8) 6-0 6-3. But Fonseca doesn’t have a mental coach or psychologist like some of his rivals. Instead, he’s been working on his breathing.
“I don’t have a mental coach. I actually have someone that teaches me to breathe and he’s my coach of breathing,” the Buenos Aires champion explained.
“And when I’m in Rio, I do a lot of lessons with him, and it helps me to calm down and to not be stressed all the time, just to do some exercises with breathing before. Every day and before the match I normally do it, during the match also. And I only have this, I don’t have a mental coach.”
It’s something Draper, who has a perfect 2-0 record over Fonseca, did during the off-season. Earlier this year, the British No. 1 opened up about his decision to enlist a breathing coach to cope with anxiety on the court.
“At the end of the day, if you’re out of breath, or if you’re anxious or stressed, then you have to have ways of being able to calm yourself down,” Draper told the ATP in February.
“If you can calm yourself down, and if you can stay in the present, you’re more able to focus on what you’re actually doing, instead of just getting back to feeling okay.
“That obviously helps massively mentally. You’re just not fighting yourself as much, and you know that you can do it.”
It’s no surprise Fonseca is following in the footsteps of world No. 4 Draper. During the French Open, the Brazilian teenager admitted he worked on copying the body language of the sport’s greatest champions.
Fonseca explained: “My coach says to me a lot about body language. We see a lot of, I mean, Rafa Nadal and [Novak] Djokovic and [Roger] Federer, I mean, those guys, the body language they have is just incredible. We need to follow their steps. You need to stay positive.”
The world No. 57 will be hoping to carry the same attitude into his next match in Eastbourne, as he faces top seed and three-time champion Taylor Fritz. It will be valuable preparation for his Wimbledon main draw debut next week, after losing in qualifying last year.
