LONDON (AP) — Taylor Fritz dealt with his opponent’s 153 mph serve — it was the fastest in Wimbledon history, but Fritz won the point — and an overnight suspension before the fifth set to finish off a 6-7 (6), 6-7 (8), 6-4, 7-6 (6), 6-4 first-round win over Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard when they resumed Tuesday.
Not only did 2024 U.S. Open runner-up Fritz need to turn things around after dropping the opening two sets, but he was two points from defeat on a half-dozen occasions in the fourth-set tiebreaker Monday night.
“A really crazy match,” the No. 5-seeded Fritz said Tuesday after wrapping up the victory at No. 1 Court. “I thought it was about to be all over last night in the fourth-set tiebreaker. But he came back on me in the first two tiebreakers, so I thought maybe I had one in me. I’m super happy to get through it.”
After Fritz forced the fifth set on Monday at about 10:15 p.m., the match was suspended because there is a curfew at the All England Club that halts play at 11 p.m., and officials were concerned about finishing by that time. It was clear Fritz preferred to continue, but it wasn’t up to him.
“I mean, it’s obviously not ideal. I felt like if we weren’t going to have time to finish the fifth set, then absolutely I think it makes sense not to play the fifth set. But we were having sets about as long as you can possibly play sets, and they were still in the time frame that we had last night to play the fifth,” the 27-year-old Californian said. “I obviously wanted to play it, but either way, I felt confident coming back today (and) getting it done, as well.”
As it turned out, he needed only 35 minutes Tuesday to get the job done in a contest that featured 66 total aces — 37 by Mpetshi Perricard, 29 by Fritz.
On the third point of the match Monday, Mpetshi Perricard — a 6-foot-8 Frenchman who is 21 — smacked a serve at 153 mph, eclipsing the old tournament best of 148 mph hit by Taylor Dent in 2010.
Fritz not only managed to get his racket on the ball and return it, but he eventually took that point with a forehand volley winner.
“The funny thing is, I always tell my coaches (when) they sometimes say maybe I should try to serve (into the) body … (that) I think body serves are awful. I never win the point when I do it,” Fritz said. “And I sent the video (of the 153 mph serve) to my coach, saying: ‘There you go. He served the fastest serve in the history of Wimbledon right into my chest, and I won the point, so there’s your proof: Body serves are bad.’”
Fritz lost in the first round at the French Open last month, but he is far more comfortable on slick, speedy grass courts, which reward the power on his big serve and forehand. He reached the quarterfinals at Wimbledon in 2022 and last year and is coming off his fourth Eastbourne Open title on the surface last week.
“This is a huge, huge week for me, with the recent results on grass. So I was thinking about that in this match,” he said. “It put a lot of pressure on me, because I really didn’t want to go out in the first round.”
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Howard Fendrich has been the AP’s tennis writer since 2002. Find his stories here: https://apnews.com/author/howard-fendrich. More AP tennis: https://apnews.com/hub/tennis
