Fasten your seatbelts for a ‘gigantic’ clash in Paris! America’s ‘Big Foe’ takes on 6ft 8 inches Frenchman Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard in the first round (R64) of the Paris Masters. Perricard is entering this tournament after his emphatic title triumph at the Swiss Indoors. Now, it’ll be interesting to see if he manages to hold on to this winning momentum against someone like Frances Tiafoe. Although Tiafoe hasn’t yet won a title this season, he has made quite a few deep runs in his previous tournaments. So, this is what makes this contest more enticing! Who’ll win?

Frances Tiafoe vs Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard: Preview

Frances Tiafoe started his season reaching the QF of the 2024 Hong Kong Open in January. After that, his most remarkable performance came at the ATP Houston. Over there, he reached the final, but Tiafoe was defeated by his compatriot, Ben Shelton in the final match. His season has been a mix of ups and downs, so far. Frances Tiafoe made it to the finals even at the Cincinnati Masters, but he was defeated by Jannik Sinner in that match. After that, he managed to put up a historic feat by reaching the SF of the 2024 US Open. However, he’s entering this match after his R16 loss to another Italian, Matteo Berrettini at the Vienna Open.

His opponent in the next match, Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard earned praise from Tiafoe’s friend, Ben Shelton after the epic final at the Swiss Indoors. Shelton said, “You’re such a great young talent and so good for the sport. It’s cool to see so many different styles out here on tour and you add so much so congrats on an outstanding breakout season.” Perricard has already won quite a few titles this season! His first title of the 2024 season came at the Challenger Nottingham, GB event in February.

After that, he won titles at the Morelos Open and GNP Seguros Tennis Open in April. Then came his two big wins at the Lyon Open and recently concluded, Swiss Indoors. Can he beat Frances Tiafoe in his next match?

Tiafoe vs Perricard: Head-to-Head

Frances Tiafoe has never faced this 21-year-old Frenchman ever in his career. Perhaps, he’ll need to dial up Ben Shelton to know more about his opponent in his first match at the Paris Masters! 

Prediction: Perricard to win this match in three sets

Surprised? Well, you shouldn’t be, if you have watched this youngster in action this season. He has played quite an exceptional brand of tennis this year. He started the season ranking 205th in the world and now he has moved inside the Top 50. He is currently ranked 31 in the men’s singles ranking list. Perricard has a win-loss record of 16-12 on the main Tour. On the other hand, Frances Tiafoe is ranked 17th in the world and has a win-loss record of 33-26. Despite having an edge in these stats, we’re expecting the home-support factor to work in favor of the Frenchman in this match.

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Talking about their playing styles, we hear Ben Shelton say, “I almost killed myself trying to return your serve,” to Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard after the final match in Basel. This shows us how lethal can be this youngster with his serves. He has hit a total of 109 aces in just five matches in his previous tournaments. How many will he fire in his next match against Tiafoe? Well, we’ll have to wait a bit to get this answer.

If we sum up his playing style in a few lines, then we can say Perricard is more of an aggressive player with powerful serves and a strong baseline game. Apart from that, he also has an unorthodox single-handed backhand. This can cause a few troubles for the American in the next match.

Talking about Frances Tiafoe’s playing style, well, ‘Big Foe‘ is more of an aggressive offensive player who also heavily relies on his big serves and venomous forehand shots. His forehands usually carry a heavy topspin and are driven by an unusual arm motion. Perricard needs to keep an eye on this shot right from the start of this match. He loves hitting heavy forehands more often if compared to his flat-bouncing backhand. Tiafoe is also a good returner of the ball and he prefers to hit the ball inside the baseline with a lot of power.

Is it enough to stop the in-form Perricard? Well, looks a bit tough at the moment, but having said that, Tiafoe loves coming up with surprises! We know that, right?