2024 was a breakthrough year for Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard with the 21-year-old Frenchman announcing himself in style on the ATP Tour. Perricard started the year outside the top 200 but ended it ranked #31. He won two ATP Tour titles and three Challenger titles. He has also already established himself as one of the best servers in the game.<\/p>\n
Perricard started the year playing on the Challenger Tour and performed brilliantly, winning three titles. He went on a great run in April, which helped him in his first tour-level match. He received a wild card at the Open Parc clay-court ATP 250 tournament, held in Lyon, France. Perricard was born in Lyon, so winning his first ATP title there must have felt very significant for him. He got his first top-20 win in that event against Alexander Bublik and then defeated Tomas Martin Etcheverry in a brilliant final. This victory made him the lowest-ranked champion in the tournament\u2019s history.<\/p>\n
Wimbledon proved to be a pivotal point of the season for the Frenchman as he reached the second week of a Grand Slam for the first time. He did that as a lucky loser. His first-round win over Sebastian Korda showcased the potency of his serve. It was a thrilling five-set encounter where Perricard served 52 aces. Korda was in-form and the 20th seed in the tournament, but failed to break Perricard’s serve in the entire match. Lorenzo Musetti ended Perricard’s run in the fourth round, but he had already demonstrated his promise by that point.<\/p>\n
Riding high after the success at Wimbledon, Perricard failed to keep the momentum and his worst phase of the season followed. He lost 8 of his next 10 matches after Wimbledon. He lost some close matches which he had been winning before. A phase like this was not at all surprising given the lack of experience and transition from one surface to another. However, Perricard came out as a better player from this setback and won the biggest title of his young career.<\/p>\n