Wimbledon’s rules continue to be polarizing. The first round match between American star and World No.4 Taylor Fritz and Frenchman Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard, on Monday, caught the drama in the most unpredictable manner possible. Fritz was left fuming after the officials told him not to play the moment the encounter reached its cliffhanger point. But more than his disappointment toward the officials, it seems his rival was the cause behind the controversy. How?

After Perricard took the first two sets, he seemed to snatch the ticket to the second round. However, Fritz managed to make a remarkable comeback and won the next two sets, leveling the fight. Just when the crowd was getting ready to witness the final showdown in the fifth and deciding set, the officials informed Fritz to stop play. Why? Apparently, they couldn’t allow the game to continue past 10:18 UK time. (Wimbledon tradition states the matches cannot continue after 11 pm).

However, 40 minutes were still remaining. The American pleaded that the match could be completed in that duration. However, the officials didn’t agree and the match got suspended. Hours later, Fritz came up with a new detail on this incident while revealing a key reason why the match couldn’t continue. Reacting to a clip of his moment from the match on IG, he wrote, “They would’ve let us play if my opponent agreed to, I said I wanted to he didn’t” In short, Perricard didn’t want to keep playing, according to the American.

At the time of suspension, the score line read 7-6(6), 7-6(8), 4-6, 6-7 for Perricard and Fritz. The supervisor had arrived on Court 1 for a discussion with both the players as soon as the 11 pm deadline came into play. The said rule mentions that play at the All England Club must be stopped at 11 pm every night due to an agreement with the local Merton Council.

But what made things absolutely weird to believe and accept, even for the fans in the stands, was that there were still 40 minutes left for the rule to be implemented. Fritz clearly had the much-needed momentum as he just won two-sets-in-a-row.

There’s another big reason why the match caught so much attention in the first place. Turns out, Fritz’s opponent and Frenchman Perricard was in a different mood on Monday while showcasing his ace-hitting skills. Throughout the entirety of the first two sets, he was dominating the American. So much so, that his racket ended up producing a lethal, speedy serve. How fast though? Well, it was fast enough to shatter Wimbledon records.

Taylor Fritz’s opponent Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard hits record-breaking serve at Wimbledon

Yes, Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard has now achieved the title of hitting the fastest serve in Wimbledon history. Earlier in the first round battle against Fritz, the 21-year-old and 6’8″ Frenchman hit a 153 mph (246 km/h) laser. It came up in the opening game of the match at 30-0. Perricard’s serve was five miles per hour quicker than the previous milestone that America’s Taylor Dent accomplished more than a decade ago. In 2010, Dent hit a 148 mph serve, according to Wimbledon Compendium, as reported by ATP’s website on June 30.

While Perricard’s record-shattering serve was lethal, Taylor Fritz somehow handled it well. He returned it with an effective forehand, took control of the rally, and eventually won the point after hitting a volley winner.

But this wasn’t the only moment when Perricard unleashed his ‘serve attack’. At the start of the match itself, he began the proceedings with a thunderous 149 mph serve. After that, he immediately fire up another shot, at 146 mph when the game was 15-0 in his favor.

When the decision came to suspend the match, Perricard’s average first serve speed was 137 mph (221 km/h). On the other hand, his second serve average speed was 122 mph (197 km/h). While he hit 33 aces, Fritz was sitting at 24. Now it will be intriguing to see who enters the second round after winning the final set when the match resumes.