“My game is very fast – big serve, short rallies. On a surface like grass, it can really make a difference. It can help me…,” said the 6ft 8 inches tall Frenchman, Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard, in a previous interview. Guess what? This 21-year-old really meant that! He clocked a 153 miles per hour (246.23 km/hr) serve against another big server, Taylor Fritz, on day one of the 2025 Wimbledon Championships. With this fiery serve, he broke the previous Wimbledon record set by Taylor Dent in 2010 by 5 mph. The Frenchman started the match pretty impressively, winning the first two sets in this hard-fought battle, but Fritz came back in the next two, before the play got suspended for Monday. 

Although Taylor Fritz wanted to continue playing on Monday evening but supervisors opted against it. But what was the reason behind this suspension of Monday’s play, though? Well, the Wimbledon Championships curfew signifies the adjournment of matches for the day, and no tennis matches shall take place after 11 pm (local time). This rule was introduced in 2009, and it is practiced here because the inhabitants of London do not want late-night tennis matches, since the noise created by the spectators during the matches would disturb the neighbourhood in SW19 at night. But why was the match being called off way before that time? Well, that’s now become the topic of discussion in the tennis world, and after hearing complaints from Fritz, his peer, Tommy Paul has now also opened up on this issue.

At around 10:15 p.m. local time, both Fritz and Perricard met at the net with an official to decide whether to continue or not. But shortly after having a discussion with both, the chair umpire announced, “Ladies and gentlemen, due to the late time of the day, we will not be able to finish the match. Therefore, the match will be suspended until tomorrow. Play is suspended.” Boos rang across the stadium as soon as this decision went out and Taylor Fritz looked extremely frustrated while saying, “I couldn’t do anything. I tried.” Later on, he even shared a post on his IG account, revealing the exact reason behind this stoppage.

Taylor Fritz said, “They would’ve let us play if my opponent agreed to, I said I want to, he didn’t.” Reacting to this decision, renowned tennis journalist Jose Morgado shared a tweet that reflected how surprised he was to see the match getting suspended 40 minutes before curfew. He called it absolutely “nonsense” and showed support towards Fritz for getting furious with the decision. Another tennis bigwig, Todd Woodbridge, claimed that he was also a little surprised by that decision. But having said that, he added, “It’s good for Mpetshi Perricard. He should be very happy with that, but Taylor Fritz would be a little annoyed, I have no doubt.” What does Tommy Paul think about this, though?

Shortly after his win against Johannus Monday in the first round, Tommy Paul appeared on the Tennis Channel for a quick chat. During the conversation, he was asked to share his thoughts on this incident featuring his friend and compatriot, Taylor Fritz. Replying to that, he said, “I think in Taylor’s position, I probably would have wanted to at least start the set. I mean, who knows, he could have maybe sneaked in a little break there early in the fifth. But obviously, Perricard was serving unbelievably. I was watching the match, and I mean it’s tough…it sounds like they both, I mean, didn’t agree on whether they should keep going and when that happens it goes to the tournament supervisor, and he kind of called it off and there’s no real point in arguing you know. I mean it’s just kind of a waste of energy at that point, and just kind of get ready, come back out here.“

However, the play resumed on Tuesday and Taylor Fritz got the better of Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard by 6(6)-7,6(8)-7,6-4,7-6(6),6-4. Following this hard-fought victory, Fritz will now take on Canada’s Gabriel Diallo in the second round. What are his chances at the 2025 Wimbledon, though?

Martina Navratilova drops a prediction on Taylor Fritz

Taylor Fritz is ranked 5th in the world, and he’s currently the highest-ranked American on the men’s Tour. So, expectations are quite high surrounding his chances at Wimbledon. Fritz has a chance to end a 25-year-long American drought. Pete Sampras (in 2000) was the last American man to win the Wimbledon Championships. Although Andy Roddick came closer to clinching the title by reaching three finals between 2004 and 2009, he went down to the ‘Swiss Maestro’ on each of those occasions.

What does Roddick think about Fritz’s chances at Wimbledon? Well, during a previous episode in his podcast, ‘Served’, he said, “Don’t sleep on Taylor. Fritz on grass, I want to say, I’ll get this slightly wrong, but if I’m not perfect, you get the gist of it, I think. He’s won seven or eight times on tour, and four of them have been on grass. You know, he was a couple of points away from the semis, where he would have played Kyrgios.” Having said that, he also highlighted Fritz’s recent win over Alexander Zverev (at the Boss Open) and spoke about why he is a real threat on this surface. 

Interestingly, other than that, Fritz also won the Eastbourne Open just before Wimbledon. Does this incredible run make him a favorite at Wimbledon? Well, tennis legend Martina Navratilova has his name in the last four! “[Jannik] Sinner, [Jack] Draper, Fritz and [Carlos] Alcaraz,” said the nine-time champion. Do you also think Taylor Fritz will make a long run at the 2025 Wimbledon? Follow the Championships in real-time with EssentiallySports’ Live Blog updates.