One year after his first major ATP breakthrough — winning the Buenos Aires title at 18 — Joao Fonseca returned to the same clay event as defending champion and No. 3 seed and suffered an early exit. He lost in the opening round to Alejandro Tabilo, 6-3, 3-6, 7-5, a defeat that extended a three-match losing streak and renewed questions about his physical readiness.

“If I say no, I’d be lying, so yes, I certainly felt a bit more pressure,” Fonseca said after the match. “I felt tense from the beginning of the match. I tried to bring intensity, motivation, eagerness, even sought support from the crowd, but it wasn’t my day. There was a lack of conviction and confidence…”

“I tried everything to motivate myself,” he added. “I was pissed off with my legs, which weren’t moving the way they needed to. My body wasn’t helping me hit the right shots I wanted.”

A lower back injury troubled Fonseca at the end of last season and affected the start of 2026. He withdrew from his scheduled Australian Open tune-ups in Brisbane and Adelaide, then fell in the first round in Melbourne to Eliot Spizzirri in four sets.

“I was born with a back problem and suffered a stress fracture five years ago,” he told Brazilian press after pulling out from Brisbane. “Some days I feel more pain than others. It’s an injury that never fully disappears, but one I have to learn to manage day to day.

“Over the last few days, I’ve felt like I was improving a bit, but it’s hard to say if I’ll be at 100 percent.”

According to his team, the chronic condition is called lumbar hypolordosis, also known as flat back syndrome, in which the lower spine has lost its natural curve. “João has a straightened spine and suffered a stress fracture five years ago, when he was still a juvenile. Thus, the lower back is the most sensitive area of his body and, because he is a high-performance athlete, it requires constant care,” says a statement provided to GE (Globo Sports). “Soon, João will be back to the tournaments, 100 percent recovered. The mentality of the team is always to preserve the athlete’s health, aiming for a long-term career.”

Medical notes in the report say flatback can reduce mobility and increase the risk of ongoing pain and secondary injuries. Treatment commonly involves physical therapy, anti-inflammatory medication, injections and pain management aimed at posture and symptom control.

Fonseca now turns his focus to the ATP 500 Rio Open on home soil. “They say ‘Joao is going to be the next Guga, the next Alcaraz’, I’m writing my own story and doing everything at my own pace,” Fonseca said. “What I can do on my part is work really hard on my mentality and my physique.”

Taylor Fritz received an unusual and spirited reception at the Nexo Dallas Open when dozens of fans on center court wore his signature black BOSS headband.

BOSS, Fritz’s apparel sponsor and an official partner of the Dallas Open, distributed the headbands during Tuesday’s first-round match against Marcos Giron. “It’s crazy tonight! Everywhere I look everyone’s dressed like me,” Fritz said, laughing during his on-court interview. “After what happened at the Open, I’m not surprised.” The stunt referenced a viral moment from last year’s US Open, when Fritz accidentally wore his BOSS headband upside down in his quarterfinal versus Novak Djokovic. Blair Henley’s own headband was upside down during the interview in a cheeky nod to that incident.

“The second I saw it, I was just like…” he said, mimicking a facepalm. Fritz later logged on to X and asked, “why’d nobody tell me?” “No one said anything to me, so that was crazy,” he recalled in Dallas. “Even when I went in to change after the second set, and I looked in the mirror myself and I didn’t notice. I just changed headbands, but I put it on right that time!”

Fritz returned to competition for the first time since reaching the fourth round of the Australian Open, where he fell to No. 5 seed Lorenzo Musetti in straight sets. He opened in Dallas with a gritty 6-4, 5-7, 7-6 (1) win over Giron, firing 21 aces in a match that lasted nearly two and a half hours. He followed that with a 6-3, 6-4 victory over Brandon Nakashima.

There was a brief scare in the opener when Fritz felt a “sharp pain” after a “strange twist” in his right knee during the first set against Giron and called for the physio, raising concerns as he manages lingering tendinitis. “It had nothing to do with the tendinitis, the knee issue that I’ve been dealing with for a while now,” he said afterward. “It was weird… It was (during) the first point of his service game in that changeover. I felt like I tweaked my knee. I was getting a sharp pain.

“It got a little better the next game that I served and I just called Clay over to make sure it was good. And after he worked on it, honestly, no problems. It was just a weird little tweak.”

Trevor Svajda, the top-ranked man in college tennis and a 19-year-old SMU junior, is aiming to turn a rivalry that began on San Diego courts into an ATP storyline. The Dallas Open wild card returned to the Ford Center at The Star intent on testing that progression after a season of steady improvement at Southern Methodist University.

His older brother, Zachary Svajda, has climbed more than 100 places in the ATP rankings since last June and sits on the fringes of the Top 100. Trevor has watched that rise closely and expects the brothers could meet again at the professional level.

On the court, Trevor revels in the contrast between their games. “People would say Zach and me are very different on court,” he said. “He’s not much emotion, but I show a lot more emotion on court. I think I have a much bigger game I’d say than his. He’s definitely a lot more consistent that I am, but I definitely have the bigger shots I’d say.”

He also praised his brother’s recent form. “He’s playing some great tennis now,” he assessed. “You can see it in his game. He has one of the best backhands on tour, but he’s really starting to find his forehand and first serve. So I’m happy for him.”

Last year Trevor finished runner-up to Columbia’s Michael Zheng for the national title, and in Dallas he observed there are “not really that big of gaps” between players ranked outside the Top 200 and the game’s elite. The point was underscored by his straight-sets defeat to former NCAA champion Ethan Quinn, 7-6(3), 7-5, a reminder of the fine margins that separate college standouts from established pros.

As the season progresses, Svajda’s college form and his family connection to the professional ranks suggest a clear pathway: convert college momentum into ATP opportunity and, perhaps, turn a San Diego sibling rivalry into an on-tour chapter.