By Chris Oddo | @TheFanChild | Saturday July 6, 2024
French tennis is looking good at Wimbledon. Six Frenchmen reached the 3rd round here this year, which is the 2nd-most Frenchmen to reach the 3rd round at Wimbledon in the Open Era – after 2010 (seven).
After the dust settled on Saturday in London, three – Mpetshi Perricard, Fils and Humbert – had reached the round of 16.
And.. they are young.
For the first time since 2005, the tricolor had two players aged 21 or younger into the third round. Richard Gasquet and Gael Monfils were the two in the mix two decades ago, this year it is a pair of great friends, Arthur Fils and Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard, who share the honors.
Fils, is well known already, as the youngest player in the Top-50, but here at Wimbledon he has broken new ground and reached the round of 16 at a major for the first time.
At 20 years and 32 days, Fils became the youngest Frenchman to reach the round of 16 at Wimbledon since 2005, when Richard Gasquet turned the trick.
It is Mpetshi Perricard, a hulky 6’8” menace, that is the real revelation this week. He won the Lyon title a few weeks ago on the clay, but until this week he hadn’t made his presence felt at the majors.
The 20-year-old took care of that in the first round, when he rocketed 51 aces past Sebastian Korda in a comeback from two sets down. He followed that up with a devastating straight sets win over Yoshihito Nishioka to reach the third round.
On Saturday he eased past Emil Ruusuvuori in four sets, 4-6, 6-2, 7-6(5), 6-4 to book his spot in the round of 16. With that victory, Mpetshi Perricard became the 4th Frenchman in the Open Era to reach the round of 16 on his Wimbledon debut – after Sebastian Grosjean (1998), Jo-Wilfried Tsonga (2007) and Ugo Humbert (2019).
Mpetshi Perricard and Fils have been like brothers since their pre-teen days of training in Poitiers, France. They also won the Roland-Garros Boys’ Doubles title together in 2021. That was the year that four Frenchmen reached the Boys’ singles semifinals for the first time in history (Luca Van Assche and Sean Cuenin were the other two.
“I grew up with him,” Fils, who became the second-youngest Frenchman to defeat a Top-10 player since 2006 when he defeated Hubert Hurkacz in the second round, said. “We played everything together, we went on vacation together many times, we arrived on the circuit at the same time... He's a great champion, and I think he will very soon be one of the best players in the world . And then, with his enormous serve, he taught me how to return better!”
Mpetshi Perricard is coached by Emmanuel Planque, who formerly worked with Lucas Pouille and Fiona Ferro. He learns a lot from Fils, who is ranked 34 and will face Roman Safiullin in the third round at Wimbledon.
“He taught me to be patient in exchanges, to construct points better. In fact, we helped each other,” said Mpetshi Perricard, according to Tennis Majors. “It’s true that we’ve known each other forever. We often faced each other, we played a lot of doubles together. Our relationship is very strong. He’s like my brother, he’s my best friend.”
On Saturday at Wimbledon the brothers in arms will hope to move the future of French tennis forward at Wimbledon. Even if they don’t it appears that the future of French men’s tennis is in good hands…
Photo credit: Rob Newell/CameraSport