Tennis-Perricard exits Wimbledon but makes mark with fastest serve
LONDON (Reuters) -Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard departed Wimbledon as a first-round loser but the Frenchman left his mark on the Grand Slam with the fastest serve recorded in the tournament's history - a 153 mph (246 kph) missile against Taylor Fritz on Monday.
Perricard, whose match was later suspended due to the local 11pm curfew and resumed on Tuesday, was beaten 6-7(6) 6-7(8) 6-4 7-6(6) 6-4 but much of the talk in his press conference was about his status as a "serve-bot" in the men's game.
That was largely due to the 21-year-old's reputation for consistently hitting huge serves and his record-breaking effort in the opening game of the contest which eclipsed the previous tournament mark of 148 mph set by American Taylor Dent in 2010.
"I didn't check the speed, to be honest. I saw that last night. I lost the point. I'm not doing some special technique to have a big serve or a fast serve. I'm serving like I'm supposed to do," Perricard told reporters.
"We don't train a lot to be honest on this part of my game. It comes naturally."
Australian Sam Groth hit the fastest recorded serve at a professional event with a 163.7 mph (263.4 kph) rocket at the Busan Challenger in 2012, a match he lost in straight sets to prove big serves can be blunt weapons in the modern game.
Perricard, whose thundering deliveries are greatly aided by him being 6ft 8in, said he expected serves to only get faster in the future as players push the limits of their physicality.
"Players are stronger," he added. "They have bigger shoulders, so I don't know, 260 (kph), 270 (kph) maybe the next one is going to be."
(Reporting by Shrivathsa Sridhar in London; Editing by Ken Ferris)
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