ATP Tour

Mpetshi Perricard on the 'real strategy' that makes him a serious threat on grass...

Few sights in tennis strike fear quite like seeing Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard’s name next to yours in a grass-court draw.

Towering at 6’ 8” and hammering down aces with abandon, the 21-year-old Frenchman boasts a game tailor-made for the slick surface. Taylor Fritz, this year’s fifth seed at Wimbledon, will have to confront that challenge head on Monday in one of the popcorn opening matches at the All England Club.

“My game is very fast — big serve, short rallies,” Mpetshi Perricard told ATPTour.com ahead of his Wimbledon campaign. “On a surface like grass, it can really make a difference. It can help me…

“I’m not sure what other players think, but obviously when I’m playing someone who serves big and plays fast, like [Reilly] Opelka, it’s not very pleasant to know you don’t have control over the points. But that’s part of the game: Everyone has their style and that’s what makes this sport beautiful.”

After a breakout season in 2024, during which he won his first two tour-level titles in Lyon and Basel, Mpetshi Perricard earned Most Improved Player honours at the ATP Awards. At the heart of his success is a bold tactical approach that continues to serve him well — particularly on grass.

By launching second serves at speeds comparable to his first, the World No. 36 Mpetshi Perricard often blitzes through service games and ramps up the pressure on his opponents. But there’s a calculation behind the aggression.

“It’s a real strategy,” said Mpetshi Perricard, who won 88.8 per cent of his service games last year. “I’ve got a lot of control, and that allows me to put pressure on my opponents. Playing on grass is completely different. You have to make adjustments, but it’s a part of the season every player looks forward to.”

Wimbledon is a place that will highlight his potential like no other. Last year, despite falling in the final round of qualifying, Mpetshi Perricard received a lucky loser spot in the main draw after Alejandro Davidovich Fokina’s withdrawal.

How to make some noise on your Wimbledon main-draw debut? Hit 51 aces… The Frenchman wore down 20th seed Sebastian Korda in his five-set opener and rode that momentum to the fourth round, in which he lost to Lorenzo Musetti.

“I’ve got good memories of Wimbledon, I did a few good things there,” the Frenchman modestly said. “It’s the first time I won matches at a Grand Slam, I can’t wait to play there again. It’s a special place.”

This year, the No. 5 player in the PIF ATP Rankings, Fritz, will have little time to settle into his campaign at SW19. Yet ahead of his maiden Lexus ATP Head2Head clash with Mpetshi Perricard, the American remained level headed and quietly assured.

“It’s a scary match, because some things are more out of your control than in other matches,” said Fritz, who reached the quarter-finals last year. “It’s not easy when you play someone like him. It could potentially come down to a couple of points, a couple of shots.

“But historically, I have done well against big servers. I’m going to go out there and do my job, which is to take care of my own service games. If it happens that I’m not able to break and I lose in tie-breaks, that can happen… It’s not the easiest draw, but I’ve had a lot of good results when given tough draws.”

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While Mpetshi Perricard poses a threat, Fritz can draw on his own grass-court pedigree. After triumphs already this year in Stuttgart and Eastbourne, the 27-year-old is just the second active man to win five or more titles on the surface, trailing only Novak Djokovic (8).