A bolt from the blue on the London turf. This Monday, June 30, during his first-round match against American Taylor Fritz, Frenchman Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard inscribed his name in the Wimbledon record books by firing an ace at… 246 km/h. Never before has a serve been so fast in the history of the British tournament. Long dominated by tour giants like John Isner and Ivo Karlovic, the realm of the serve may have just changed rulers. Mpetshi Perricard, already renowned for his power and his build built for speed (2,03 m under the height of 153 cm), literally pulverized the radars. His missile, clocked at XNUMX miles per hour, relegated the old tournament standards to the background.
A record for Wimbledon, but not yet a world record
While the Frenchman officially becomes the fastest serve ever recorded at Wimbledon, he still falls short of the world record unofficially held by Australian Sam Groth: 263 km/h hit in 2012 during a Challenger in South Korea, a tournament not sanctioned by the ATP. In official competition, Isner (258 km/h) and Karlovic (251 km/h) hold the highest marks, respectively in the Davis Cup. But the Frenchman's performance is nonetheless historic. It confirms the emergence of a new name in the category of devastating servers, on a surface where this shot often becomes a weapon fatal. It remains to be seen whether this brutal power will be accompanied by a worthy run in the tournament. At Wimbledon, records are sometimes written in a single shot. Mpetshi Perricard has just delivered a very high-flying one.
