Mumbai: Of late, the Grand Slam stage had been awash with the recurrent presence of three men who invariably cruised to the deep end of the draw.
This peculiar 2026 French Open, where Jannik Sinner and Novak Djokovic sank early while Carlos Alcaraz stayed away, has been struck by a wave of three fresh faces. One’s a 19-year-old Brazilian boy wonder, one’s a 19-year-old Spanish sensation, and one’s a 20-year-old Czech giant.
Meet your new Slam surfers: Joao Fonseca, Rafael Jodar and Jakub Mensik.
All three have entered the last eight at Roland Garros for their first ever quarter-final appearance in a Slam. For the first time this century, three players below 21 will battle for a men’s singles semi-final spot in a Slam, as per OptaAce, with one of them guaranteed to get there on Tuesday. For only the fifth time in the last four decades, two teenagers have made the men’s singles quarter-finals in a Slam.
Fonseca, who knocked out 24-time major winner Djokovic from two sets to love down playing lights-out tennis, continued to dazzle in a four-set fourth-round win over former French Open finalist Casper Ruud.
Jodar, who started the year as world No.165 and is presently at a career-high 29 that will only rise at the end of this week, rallied from two sets to love down to beat senior compatriot Pablo Carreno Busta.
Mensik, who collapsed on court and couldn’t move after a cramp-hit second-round win in the blazing Paris heat, still found enough legs to go past 8th seed Alex de Minaur and 11th seed Andrey Rublev in the next two rounds. These are boys playing with the heart, mind and body of men, wading through the challenges and complexities of five-set Grand Slam marathons as if they were routine runs for them.
It really isn’t. This is only the second French Open appearance by Fonseca (lost in Round 3 in 2025) and Mensik (Round 2). This is only the second Grand Slam appearance by Jodar (lost in Round 2 at the 2026 Australian Open).
“It’s a new experience for me,” said Fonseca after his win over Ruud. “Getting through to the second week of a Grand Slam is always tough, but it’s all heart.”
Heart is the binding factor in the diverse journeys of this trio, who have each gone into overdrive in Paris and given the tennis world, for a change, a different direction from the Sinner-vs-Alcaraz-vs-Djokovic trilogy.
Of the three, Mensik is the more accomplished on the tour. The 6’5” Czech, a junior world No.2, has taken big strides after turning pro. In 2023, he became the youngest Czech to win an ATP Challenger title. In 2024, he reached his first ATP Tour final and tasted his first top-5 win. In 2025, he captured his first ATP Masters 1000 trophy after beating his idol Djokovic in the Miami Open final. He surged to a career-best world No.12 in March before unlocking another high in a Slam.
Also flying high is his quarter-final opponent, Fonseca. The Rio-born teen was the 2024 Next Gen ATP Finals champion, and brought along plenty of hype around him on the tour the following year.
“We all saw today why there’s hype around him,” said Djokovic.
Few would bet against Djokovic losing from two sets up, or in a fifth-set shoot-off against a novice. With a forehand that took down the best in business and a game that refused to back down even in pressure points, Fonseca beat the odds and the master of five-setters. He wasn’t done, backing it up with an equally impressive victory against Ruud in front of his Brazilian icon Gustavo Kuerten, the three-time French Open champion.
Jodar has quite a rich spread of Spanish icons to look up to, not least his namesake and the greatest to set foot at Roland Garros. This Rafael, though, was nowhere close to being there this time last year, when he was losing in the first round of Challengers as a player ranked outside 700.
A stunning clay swing on his ATP tour debut, comprising a title, one semi-final and two quarter-finals sprung him into the elite coming into Paris. Jodar will now walk into Philippe-Chatrier for the first time to play world No.3 Alexander Zverev in a French Open quarter-final.
“It’s my first year on tour, so I’m just trying to enjoy the process,” he said. “Everything is new for me.”
In a Slam that will present a new men’s singles champion, these three newbies have provided a refreshing touch.
