Roger Federer retired four years ago, meaning he never got a chance to face the tennis stars of today. But the 20-time Grand Slam champion now plans to get back out on the court with Brazilian sensation Joao Fonseca, whom Federer himself has tipped as the man who can challenge Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner’s dominance. Aged 20, Fonseca has already made his mark on the tour. He burst onto the scene as a teenager, shocking Andrey Rublev on his Grand Slam debut at the beginning of 2025 as a teenage qualifier. By the end of that year, he’d won up his first two titles at the ATP 250 event in Buenos Aires and ATP 500 in Basel.

Fonseca continued impressing this year, and stunned Novak Djokovic in the third round of the French Open, handing the Serb his second-ever defeat from two sets up. The world No. 40 has now been forced to end his season early due to injury. But Fonseca is already planning to get back on court with Federer.

Federer is already set to return to the court for Stan Wawrinka’s farewell exhibition event in Geneva at the end of the year. The former world No. 1 will take part in One Last Backhand with Wawrinka, Andy Murray and Gael Monfils. Wawrinka and Monfils are expected to play a singles match before Federer and Murray get involved with some doubles.

And the 45-year-old, who was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame this summer, will now also head to Brazil. Federer was full of praise for Fonseca when he addressed the media at the Australian Open earlier this year, and will now have the chance to get to know the young star even better.