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French giant Mpetshi Perricard joins Wimbledon heavy artillery

Wimbledon has a new member of its heavy artillery in the shape of giant 20-year-old Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard.

The 2.03m (6ft 8in) Frenchman blasted 51 aces and 93 winners past 20th-seeded Sebastian Korda in a five-set victory to make the second round.

He won all of his 29 service games, saving all 11 break points he faced.

On top of that 99 of Mpetshi Perricard's 185 serves were unreturned.

"I'm happy to have this serve which helps me enormously," said the world number 58, who only entered the main draw as a lucky loser from qualifying to replace the injured Alejandro Davidovich Fokina.

"On break points, I stay calm. If I do, so much the better. If the ball comes back, well, I'll have to manage, but I'm not putting pressure on myself by telling myself that I absolutely have to make an ace.".

His 7-6 (7/5), 6-7 (4/7), 7-6 (8/6), 6-7 (4/7), 6-3 over Korda set up a second round clash on Thursday with Japan's Yoshihito Nishioka.

It will be a contrast of appearance and styles.

The 28-year-old Nishioka, who stands at just 1.70m (5ft 7ins), managed just three aces and 27 winners in his win over Nuno Borges.

Despite his power, Mpetshi Perricard insists he is not just a robotic big server.

"It's not always a case of serving, otherwise, everyone would be powerful, he said.

"When you're tall, it helps but if you don't have good technique, if you haven't worked in training, if you haven't spent hours and hours on the court, you're not going to be able to serve many aces in a match."

John Isner, who holds the record of aces in a single match having fired 113 past Nicolas Mahut in his famous 2010 Wimbledon epic, described the Frenchman's skills as "superb".

"I wouldn't change anything about his technique, it seems perfect to me," Isner told French sports daily L'Equipe on Wednesday.

Mpetshi Perricard has enjoyed an impressive recent rise in the sport.

At the end of 2023, he was down at 206 in the world. His win on Tuesday has pushed him to the brink of the top 50.

He captured his first title in Lyon on the eve of the French Open before losing a stormy five-setter against David Goffin in the first round at Roland Garros.

On slower courts, he appreciates that his serve cannot be his only escape route.

"You have to be more and more precise. You have to have a strong enough base to be able to make the difference in the game," he said.

When he teamed up with coach Emmanuel Planque in 2022, he admits his game was still a "big project".

"I had to change things. I didn't have the right vision of the game. I didn't see how I was going to play in a few years. I didn't really appreciate my weapons."
Source: AFP