THE CHAMPIONSHIPS

July 1, 2025

Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard

Press Conference

T. FRITZ/G. Mpetshi Perricard

6-7, 6-7, 6-4, 7-6, 6-4

THE MODERATOR: We'll start with English questions.

Q. Just how are you feeling after this match? What's the toughest part about the past day?

GIOVANNI MPETSHI PERRICARD: I mean, it was tough match. He played well. I played well. It was, yeah, one of my best matches so far this season. I was able to do a lot of things. I went full on every serve, every forehand, tried to put him in danger on every shot.

I mean, it works, it doesn't. The end was tough, yeah.

Q. Do you leave Wimbledon feeling positive about your progress on grass?

GIOVANNI MPETSHI PERRICARD: Sorry, say again.

Q. You said it was your best match. Do you leave Wimbledon feeling good in general?

GIOVANNI MPETSHI PERRICARD: 50/50, to be honest, because I still lost. Yeah, for the future it's kind of cool to have a good feeling about the next part of the season, so I can be able to put in (indiscernible).

Q. Can you explain your decision or your thinking last night to not want to finish?

GIOVANNI MPETSHI PERRICARD: I mean, the supervisor came. He talk to Taylor, and Taylor said he wanted to continue. I checked the clock, and it was 10:20 or :25. Only 30 minutes left. I don't want to play a fifth one and stop at 4-All or 5-All. For my part the best decision was to play a full set the next day.

I think the supervisor had a better -- I mean, had an idea before to ask us to do what we wanted to do.

Q. Does it give you any consolation that you broke the Wimbledon serve record, 153 miles an hour? How did you feel at that moment? Did you look at the speed gun? Where do you get that prestigious power from, do you think? Your height is part of it, obviously, but do you work on anything in particular to become so good at serving?

GIOVANNI MPETSHI PERRICARD: No, I didn't check the speed, to be honest. I saw that yesterday night. I still lost the point, I think (smiling). Yeah, I mean, I'm not doing some special technique to have a big serve or a fast serve. I'm just serving like I'm supposed to do.

We don't train a lot to be honest this part of my game. But I mean, it came naturally.

Q. Your serve is so strong, difficult to break. I think you didn't force a break point yourself on Taylor's serve. How much is the balance? How much do you work on that side of things, as well?

GIOVANNI MPETSHI PERRICARD: 90% on the baseline, 10% on the serve (laughing). Yeah, I mean, Taylor has a great serve, so it wasn't very easy to have some break point during the whole match. He did some good stuff. It was difficult to read him.

I think I went one time at 15-30 and one time deuce. We started off against this kind of player. But I'm young. I can still improve on this spot on my game, so let's see for the future.

Q. Does it bother you when people call you a serve bot or those types of things?

GIOVANNI MPETSHI PERRICARD: I don't know if it's better than focusing on my serve. I'm trying to break him (laughing). I try to break him. But I know that in the meantime, the opponent has a lot of pressure on his serve, so he can do a lot of mistakes. For me a little bit of pressure.

Maybe if I do a bad game, like the last one, the match can be over or not, yeah.

Q. First of all, you served 153 yesterday. What do you think is the limit, the ceiling that someone could go here?

GIOVANNI MPETSHI PERRICARD: 300 (laughing). I don't know.

To be honest, I don't really know. The player are stronger. They have a bigger shoulder, so I don't know. 260, 270, maybe the next one going to be. I don't know.

Q. Your game is very much about no compromises. You're all out all the time. Can you just talk about that a little bit.

GIOVANNI MPETSHI PERRICARD: Yeah, I don't know if you saw the match, but every time there is a rally and it's over five shots, I'm not the best one (smiling). Again, this kind of player, I think I'm going to lose a lot of points if I'm not going full on every first shot.

For the percentage, I think it's better for me to play under three or four shots. So that's why I'm going full-out sometimes.

In the meantime I have to make him play. Like, at 6-5 in the first one, it was a long rally, and yeah, I won. Sometimes, yeah, I mean, I need to put the ball in play, but not all the time.

Q. Do you think you can come back and win Wimbledon one day, given your talent, and do you sometimes look at how quick the grass courts were in the '80s and '90s and wish they were faster, slicker, because you would almost be unplayable?

GIOVANNI MPETSHI PERRICARD: For the first question, I think it's a dream of all the other player in the draw to win this Grand Slam, so yeah.

For the second question, I didn't really watch a lot of tennis in the '80s, '90s. I wasn't born, sorry (laughing). Yeah, Kyrgios said it was faster in the past. This year, I think it was a little bit slower, but I mean, we need to adapt.

We hit the ball faster than before. We play faster than before. If people want some rallies, they need to put some slow surfaces.

Q. When you are having this tricky situation where you are having to stop and then come back the next day, what's your sort of preparation and mindset? Also, for you, why was it better to cut off before the set started rather than, like you said, get to maybe 4-All?

GIOVANNI MPETSHI PERRICARD: I don't know, to be honest, if it was better to stop or to continue. I wasn't in the best shape, to be honest, yesterday night.

Yes, the preparation was tough. Tough to sleep with the extension of the -- you know, still in the match. But you need to be focused, because it's like your final sprint, final round. Fifth set against a great player, you can't do some stupid mistakes.

So I tried to do my best. Unfortunately, it wasn't enough.