Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard has been ousted from the ATP top 50 after his loss to Felix Auger-Aliassime at the Swiss Indoors, despite being tipped to ‘change the game’ in 2024.
The Frenchman achieved a career-high ranking of World No. 29 after winning the 2024 by beating Ben Shelton in the final.
Mpetshi Perricard’s 2025 season has not gone to plan, however, and a tumble down the rankings has followed.
The big server’s loss to Auger-Aliassime at the Swiss Indoors means he’s now dropped outside of the top 50, just one year after being tipped to revolutionise the game by a former Grand Slam champion.
Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard has not lived up to Andy Roddick’s prediction
Mpetshi Perricard won an ATP 250 and 500 tournament in 2024, but his 2025 has not been anywhere near as successful.
The Frenchman has only picked up one Grand Slam win this year, which came against Zizou Bergs at his home tournament in Roland Garros.
Many were expecting big things from the big server after his breakout season in 2024, none more so than Andy Roddick.
The American tennis star-turned-broadcaster even predicted that Mpetshi Perricard might completely change the landscape of tennis.
“The stat which blew my mind was that against [Ben] Shelton his average second serve speed was 129mph,” Roddick said on Served in 2024 following Mpetshi Perricard’s breakout year.
“I’m guessing that is faster than my average first serve speed for a lot of years, and I could throw it,” he added. “There comes a time when people change the game.”
“My mind goes to [Jimmy] Connors, coming out with the Wilson T2000, [Boris] Becker comes in and serves his way to Wimbledon, Rafa [Nadal] comes in and the RPM’s change.
“Perricard is the first guy, who can statistically responsibly just hit two first serves. This guy was going 145mph first serve, 130mph second serve, he was hitting second serves in the second set breaker against Shelton trying to win a tournament at 142mph. It’s a joke, it’s different.”
The Frenchman has not quite lived up to that billing in 2025, although the star still has time at just 2 years old.
What Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard said after winning the Swiss Indoors in 2024
Mpetshi Perricard’s victory at the Swiss Indoors did indeed feel like a changing of the tide for tennis as the big server upset several big name stars at the tournament.
The Frenchman defeated Shelton, as well as Holger Rune, Denis Shapovalov, Auger-Aliassime, and James Duckworth to lift the ATP 500 title.
The star played down his serve after winning the title with a straight sets victory against Shelton. “On this surface, of course my serve is a good weapon for me, but I try to be aggressive from the baseline and put some pressure on the opponent,” he said.
The current World No. 55 has dropped 26 places since the biggest win of his career at the indoor tournament.
