French youngster is ‘going to be nightmare for many players in years to come’, predicts former world No 8
John Isner admits he is not surprised by Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard’s rapid rise in 2024 as the American backed the young star to terrorise many a player with his big serve in future.
The 21-year-old Mpetshi Perricard started the year at No 205 in the ATP Rankings, but finished at No 30 after a series of impressive tournaments.
Having only made his top-level debut in 2023, the Frenchman won his maiden ATP Tour title at the ATP 250 Lyon Open in June this year and followed it up with the ATP 500 Swiss Indoors in October. He also reached the fourth round at Wimbledon.
Former world No 8 Isner didn’t play an official match against Perricard before he retired, but he did have a hit with the youngster at Roland Garros one year and he was impressed.
“He warmed me up at the French Open, like years ago, I just remember thinking his backhand was really bad but he could crack the ball on the forehand and his serve was obviously huge,” he said on the Nothing Major podcast.
“It’s not actually that surprising for me that he did what he did [in the] last year.”
Standing at 2.03m (6ft 8in), Perricard is known for his booming serves and he sent down 532 aces in just 28 ATP matches in 2024.
And it is not just his first serves that are potent as he is known to send down incredibly handy with even Carlos Alcaraz acknowledging he is the best server on tour.
“The way he serves is unbelievable. I saw the stats in the final [of the Swiss Indoors],” the reigning French Open and Wimbledon champion said. “The average of the first serve, it was 235km/h, and the second serve it was 215km/h. So that’s the average (smiling). That’s crazy. I played against him recently, was totally different conditions.”
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Unsurprisingly, Perricard was named the ATP Tour’s Most Improved Player of the Year for 2024 ahead of Jack Draper, Tomas Machac and Alejandro Tabilo, and American legend Isner has warned that he is “not going anywhere”.
“I’m going with GMP [Perricard as the Most Improved Player of the Year], it was a no-brainer for me, he came from the top 200 to close to the top 30 right now, so he is my answer,” Isner said.
He added: “Winning a [ATP] 500 is a huge result, he’s not going anywhere, barring health, he’s going to be a nightmare for many players for many years to come.”
