Fonseca, Landaluce and Federico Cinà, the charge of the anti-Sinners

Who will try to incaster Jannik Sinner? There is someone who would like to “frame” him, so to speak, but outside the field: the world number 1’s 2025 season opens accompanied by uncertainty as to what it will be, not before February, the outcome of the Wada appeal to the CAS of Lausanne regarding the infamous Clostebol contamination detected almost a year ago. But here the discussion instead concerns the field: who will really be able to undermine the leadership of the blue or at least try?

Let’s start with the futuristic ones, in the sense that their growth is underway and the year that is about to begin could see them in a condition similar to that which Jannik and Carlos Alcaraz occupied a couple of years ago: that of the predestined . The most suitable names are those of the Brazilian Joao Fonseca, of the Chinese Shang Juncheng and the French Arthur Fils. The Swiss Dominic Stricker, the American Alex Michelsen and the Czech Jakob Mensik will start from the second row. Behind them is the name that probably deserves more attention: that of the Spaniard Martin Landaluce.
Joao Fonseca, 18, is the young man who is talked about the most also because after winning the US Open juniors he won the Next Gen Finals a few days ago in Jeddah. But above all because, if possible, he shows some room for improvement in his game that could make him a “Alcasinner” 3.0. In the meantime, he already has a first service ball that often reaches around 220 kilometers per hour and a second that jumps quite high, a sign of work already well underway on the most important fundamental of contemporary tennis.

Fast in forehand and backhand executions, however, it never conveys the sensation of “tearing” the shots. As a good Brazilian he was born on red clay he loves to alternate deep shots with dropshots and backhand slices (which sometimes comes out a little weak from the racket) but he still fails (and being only 18 years old it is largely forgivable) in strategy and this sometimes leads him to make some blunders. At the net he doesn’t seem like a phenomenon but if he reminds us of the Sinner in the first place we can expect rapid improvements.

Martin Landaluce, also 18 years old, can instead be defined as little Zverev. He doesn’t go unnoticed given that he is blond like the German and with blue eyes, an aesthetic that is much more Nordic than Mediterranean: but his tennis, still rough compared to Fonseca, is in fact close to that of Zverev: a great fighter, without the sense of Carlos’ surprise shot and Nadal’s rotations: but with a stature that promises to make him a very difficult opponent when he takes the court and conquers the net. But we are still on the level of predictions for the future.
In these first days of the new season the Swiss was also seen again Stricker who is 22 years old but last season he played very little due to various injuries. Stricker has a very different physicality from those of the younger shoots: it’s a bit reminiscent of Leconte and his compatriot Wawrinka due to the tendency to gain a few extra kilos. But he is lightning fast in his shots, brazen in even the most risky choices and so far in his career he certainly hasn’t achieved much: which could be a trigger given that 2025 will have to be the year of confirmations for him.

And Italy? There is a name even if we can expect something very substantial from him presumably from 2026. The name is that of Federico Cinà, son of Francesco who had so much influence in Roberta Vinci’s career. Federico, 17 years old, from Palermo, has absolute determination, great enthusiasm in playing, good mental balance: in the coming year it will be worth keeping an eye on him. Because the Italian phenomenon never stops.