Lesson Learned: Tournament director says Joao Fonseca “needs to be on Stadium” in Miami

MIAMI, Fla. — Joao Fonseca won’t be hard to find this week in Miami. Just look inside the biggest stadium in the entire city: Hard Rock Stadium.

Miami Open presented by Itau tournament director James Blake says he now knows better than to schedule him anywhere else.

Speaking to CoCo Vandeweghe and Steve Weissman on Tennis Channel Live, Blake laughed when he was asked about his plan to schedule rising stars like Brazil’s Fonseca, 19, and Alex Eala, 20, of the Philippines on the 1000-level event’s biggest stage.

Read More: Joao Fonseca proves his level is ‘pretty close’ in Indian Wells thriller with Jannik Sinner

“Harkening back to last year, when I learned my lesson: Fonseca needs to be on Stadium,” Blake responded, laughing. But he also made it clear: “He will be, yes.”

Last year, Fonseca indeed played all his matches on Stadium on his way to the third round—but there was one major, and memorable, miscalculation.

His second-round match against Ugo Humbert had originally been scheduled on Grandstand, the tournament’s second-largest show court with a 5,000-person capacity. However, at the last minute they were moved to the nearly 14,000-person main Stadium court after a gap opened in the schedule due to a retirement in an earlier match.

The court change—which also required the purchase of a ticket upgrade—outraged Brazilian fans who had been waiting on Grandstand for the entire day. The announcement was met with boos from the crowd so loud that the ongoing match between Jack Draper and Jakub Mensik had to be paused temporarily to restore order.

Blake will work to make sure that won’t happen again. Fonseca says he “had a great chat” with the tournament director before he plays Fabian Marozsan in the first round.

“I think the international interest in both of them is so high,” tournament director Blake said of Fonseca and Eala. “And Miami being sort of a cultural melting pot with so much international flavor here… I think we’re going to need them to be on center court, because they have so many fans worldwide.

“These might feel like home matches, for both of them.”

For Fonseca, it already does. The 19-year-old from Brazil has been steadily rising up the ATP Rankings—peaking at No. 24 in 2025—and he’s quickly become a fan favorite with a loyal following of Brazilian fans in South Florida. And he loves Miami right back:

“I like the city, I like to play here, I like the humidity. It’s a little bit closer to how it is in Brazil, so yeah I like playing here,” Fonseca said in a pre-tournament roundtable.

“Last year, it was more kind of a ‘test’ (for me). It was crowded, it was loud, a little bit of the Miami vibe. It’s so great for the tournament. And it’s also great for me, as well. I like playing with the crowd, so the support is just amazing.”

If Fonseca advances to the second round, there won’t be any doubt where that match will be scheduled—world No. 1 Carlos Alcaraz awaits the winner.

The Spaniard is 16-1 to start the season, after winning the Australian Open, lifting the trophy in Doha and reaching the semifinals at the BNP Paribas Open.

Alcaraz has his own fanbase in Miami, which is also home to one of Spain’s largest expat and immigrant communities in the U.S.—and he knows a thing or two about entertaining a crowd.

It would be the first ATP-level meeting between 19-year-old Fonseca and 22-year-old Alcaraz. The two have shared a court before, facing off in front of 14,000 strong in an exhibition match at Miami's LoanDeport Park last December.

Their potential second-round clash offers an intriguing early look at what could become a future tennis rivalry—with a packed Hard Rock Stadium likely awaiting them.