The three Gen Zs who have shocked the French Open

ROLAND GARROS — In the searing heat of a Paris heatwave, maybe it is no surprise that tennis is turning out to be a young man’s game.

With Carlos Alcaraz injured, Jannik Sinner boiled and Novak Djokovic beaten, Roland Garros has three new names in competition for the title, and not one of them has yet reached their 21st birthday: Joao Fonseca, Rafa Jodar and Jakub Mensik.

Joao Fonseca, 19, Brazil

I first met Fonseca at a windy, cold tennis centre in Nottingham. Then still 17 and with growing left to do, he did not look like much as we stood and chatted on the rickety cast-iron balcony – but he had just beaten Damir Dzumhur, then ranked just outside the top 100, to suggest he had plenty to offer.

I was behind the curve in some ways, because Roger Federer had snapped him up on a shoe and clothing deal in 2023 after he won the US Open boys, recognising the huge and rare opportunity to find a way into the enormous Brazilian market. Federer also tried to sign Fonseca to his talent agency, but he preferred to stick with his Dad, a hedge fund manager by trade.

It was his tennis-mad brother and Mum who inspired him to take the game up: he would go climbing, cycling and surfing with Dad, but football and tennis were his first loves. When he was 12 though, he injured his leg playing football and it scared him off – instead he kept going with tennis, and quickly flew up the junior ranks.

“I changed my coach, changed my school. So things got a bit more serious,” he told me back in 2024.

”I’m loving it, but things happen so fast in my life.”

He is not wrong. His father has had to give up some of the agent duties to Diana Gabanyi, who used to manage three-time French Open champion Gustavo Kuerten, who was also the last Brazilian to reach the quarters at Roland Garros. “Guga”, as he is universally known, was there in the front row to roar him on against No 15 seed Casper Ruud, a victory that proved his remarkable five-set triumph over Djokovic was no fluke.

And his appeal goes beyond “just” Brazil.

“American TV is hoping he’s going to get to the final, that’s how big he’s become,” says US great John McEnroe.

“He’s backing it up now. So, for all the expectations and hype, he’s starting to figure it out, and it’s great to see.

“He’s very clever for a young kid, he’s very respectful. He’s hungry, the world was on his shoulders. People want him so bad to do well all over the world.”

Jakub Mensik, 20, Czechia

At 6ft 5in, Mensik is the tallest of the three musketeers, but also the quietest and least assuming.

”He’s very down to earth, but he’s been working on that mental part of his game since he was young,” French Open finalist Lucie Safarova, who is from the same part of eastern Czechia, tells The i Paper.

“Mental toughness is a big part of his game.”

It shows. He was out for the count, almost literally, after winning a second-round epic that lasted nearly five hours in 33-degree heat against Mariano Navone. He could not get up off the clay without the help of paramedics and trainers, and needed a wheelchair to get back to the locker room.

And when he lost the first set to Alex de Minaur 6-0 two days later, I assumed he had not been able to get all the lactic acid out of his legs and would shortly be heading home. But no – he produced a remarkable comeback to win in four sets and then win another five-setter in the next round against Andrey Rublev.

In doing so, he became the youngest Czech since 1980 and Ivan Lendl to reach the quarter-finals at a slam. And Lendl went on to win eight majors…

Rafa Jodar, 19, Spain

No story ever really held a reader’s attention without a bad guy. In wrestling, they call it “a heel” and every show needs one. There is a growing school of thought that Jodar may be this newest generation’s heel.

The videos of him “pushing” a ball girl turned out to be a very unfortunate angle (he did not push her), and when he failed to grasp the hand of the mascot on the way out for his next match, it was again unlucky and could be put down to nerves.

But he was seen chastising ballkids for not bringing him an ice towel quickly enough in the third round – and was disqualified from a college match last year after whacking a ball towards the opposition bench.

That is probably not enough evidence to paint Jodar, who stats gurus inside the tour tell me is playing at a top-15 level already, as the all-out villain of the tour for the next 15 years. But he should not be scared of the idea of being “hated, adored but never ignored”. His remarkable ability to produce pace on both wings will win him many tennis matches, and that will win him plenty of fans in Spain and beyond.