Taylor Fritz withstands a record-breaking serve — and Wimbledon's curfew

Washington Post

2 days ago

WIMBLEDON, England — Taylor Fritz wasn't cowed by the 21-year-old, so-called 'servebot' standing at the opposite baseline in Wimbledon's extended first round, his confidence rooted in neither bravado nor naïveté. When a 6-foot-8 Frenchman missiles a tennis ball straight to your sternum, there isn't much time for either. There isn't much time for anything.
'It actually gives me absolutely zero time to think,' Fritz said, smiling. 'Normally when I start thinking, that's when I mess things up.'
The fifth seed prevailed Tuesday in a match that began — and might have ended — Monday if Wimbledon weren't so stubbornly dedicated to being, well, Wimbledon, but it all worked out in the American's favor. Fritz came back from two sets down to defeat Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard, 6-7 (6), 6-7 (8), 6-4, 7-6 (6), 6-4, and sidestep all the carnage on day two at the All England Club. He will face world No. 40 Gabriel Diallo of Canada in the second round.
An unseasonably warm Tuesday saw No. 3 Alexander Zverev and No. 7 Lorenzo Musetti fall on the men's side to join two high-seeded brethren who were upset on an unseasonably warm Monday, No. 8 Holger Rune and No. 9 Daniil Medvedev, the U.S. Open champion from 2021. On the women's side, No. 3 Jessica Pegula and No. 5 Qinwen Zheng joined No. 9 Paula Badosa, who bowed out Monday.
Fritz flexed a good bit of muscle, both physical and mental, to avoid a similar fate.
His challenge was twofold: withstand Mpetshi Perricard and complete a five-set comeback with a night to drive himself crazy about it in between.
The first required elite reflexes above all.
Mpetshi Perricard is one of the only players on tour with a bigger serve than Fritz and has shot up through the rankings to No. 36 in the world after beginning 2024 outside of the top 100. He is soft-spoken and understated right up until strings meet ball in his service motion, shortly after which he regularly produces gasps from those watching in the stands. He prompted that reaction a few times in the first-round match, never more than when he launched a ball at 153 mph to record the fastest serve in Wimbledon history.
'It came naturally,' he said.
Mpetshi Perricard owns the record, but Fritz won the point — and, perhaps just as importantly, an argument with his coaches, with whom he frequently spars about the value of serving into an opponent's body. He said he texted them the video of the winning point after the fact.
'It's just all reflexes. I think that's one of the things I do better in my return game, when I like to stand close, chip, holding a backhand grip,' Fritz said. 'It's just handsy and it's reflexes. I'd much rather deal with the speed than the spot.'
He weathered an onslaught from Mpetshi Perricard in the first two sets without hanging his head and finally flipped the match's momentum in the fourth set tiebreak. The Frenchman was two points from victory, but Fritz is more experienced, has more shots in his arsenal and plenty of certainty on grass. Two days before taking the court against Mpetshi Perricard, the American won his fourth title at a grass-court tournament in England.
Fritz rallied from a 5-1 deficit in the tiebreak to knot things at 6-all. Mpetshi Perricard, sweat beaded on his brow and arms hanging heavy, served a double fault to give Fritz the chance to serve out the set. Fritz did so with gusto that included a chest pump and a roar of, 'let's f----ing go!'
They did not go.
With play stopped at 10:18 p.m., a tournament official walked on court to give players the choice to conclude the match for the night rather than begin a fifth set that could, potentially, be suspended at Wimbledon's strict 11 p.m. curfew, the only Grand Slam tournament to enforce such a rule. A tired-looking Mpetshi Perricard voted to call it for the night. Fritz wanted to play on. With the players at a stalemate, the official decided the match was over for the night.
At a news conference after the match, Mpetshi Perricard said he preferred to have a clean break rather than pause the match deep into a fifth set. That was before he had a night to stew over missed opportunities.
'I don't know, to be honest, if it was better to stop or to continue. I wasn't in the best shape yesterday night,' he said. 'Yes, the preparation was tough. Tough to sleep …'
Fritz went to bed confident that momentum was on his side while Mpetshi Perricard tossed and turned. The pair resumed Tuesday in front of a rowdy afternoon crowd delighted for a bite-sized bit of drama, applauding loudly when the set began. Mpetshi Perricard again drew gasps with serves above 140 mph but couldn't hold his nerve. Trailing 5-4, he missed four first serves, double faulted once and flubbed a forehand on match point. After a pause that lasted some 17 hours, Fritz won the final set in 35 minutes.