The tennis season is off to a smashing start, and the buzz couldn’t be louder! Fans are glued to the courts, pundits are making their bold calls, and the thrill of new beginnings is sending waves of excitement across the sport. But amidst all this action, someone’s already dropping big predictions, and it’s none other than Coco Gauff’s former coach, Brad Gilbert. And this time, his spotlight isn’t on the usual suspects but on a rising star—French sensation Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard. 

The French tennis sensation played a remarkable match against Nick Kyrgios in the first round of the Brisbane International. Despite all three sets forcing a neck-to-neck fight between the two, Perricard managed to advance further after baffling Kyrgios 7-6(2), 6(4)-7, 7-6(3). But besides the thrilling encounter, what caught the attention further was the number of aces. On the road to victory, the French man shot 36 Aces against 15 of Kyrgios. And now, making a bold precision revolving around the same is Gilbert. 

Taking to his X account Brad Gilbert compared Perricard to John Isner and lauded his performance. Making a sensational assumption, he wrote, “thinking 🤔 if Perricard plays 55-60ish matches on the season could see him breaking @JohnIsner all time aces for a year @SharkoTennis will be very interesting what returners will adjust too.” Remember, John Isner holds the record for the most number of aces in ATP history. 

The former American player has fired a total of 14,470 aces throughout his career. Match-wise, his best performance came in 2010 against Nicolas Mahut during an 11-hour-long encounter at Wimbledon where he fired a total of 113 aces. In 2015, he witnessed his best season for aces when he served 1,260 aces in 68 matches. Now, Gilbert believes that Perricard’s strong performance has the potential to outshine the former American pro. 

Notably, the 21-year-old played only 28 matches in 20224. However, he fired 532 aces in these matches, taking the average to 19 aces per match. His latest performance, meanwhile, further highlights his potential on the tour. In his last tournament of the previous season too that came at the Paris Masters, he kept his ace-game at peak. 

In his first match against Frances Tiafoe, he shot 28 aces across the three sets. And while Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard lost in the second match to Karen Khachanov, he ensured hitting 20 aces during the encounter. With this rate, if he manages to play more matches, Perricard can indeed overshadow the previous records, and hence, Brad Gilbert’s prediction cannot be neglected. Meanwhile, Perricard himself is quite elated over his victory and looks forward to continuing his momentum. 

Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard expresses satisfaction and confidence after ousting Nick Kyrgios

Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard is making quite remarkable progress. At just 21 years of age, he has proved that he is there to make a statement on the courts, and his racquet is speaking for his skills. And now, as he left experienced Nick Kyrgios struggling on the courts, he expressed immense happiness over his performance. 

Speaking after the match, Perricard said, “Playing against Nick was a good match for me, he did some good things during the match.” Continuing further, he highlighted that while Kyrgios was pretty strong, it was the confidence of the Frenchman that kept him going. “He was very confident, a good serve. I tried my best and it worked. “It was very exciting to play this one, and I’m very happy to get the win. I knew it was going to be a serve match. I hope I will have a nice recovery and be back in two days.”

Now, as the tournament unfolds, it would be interesting to see if Perricard will manage to continue outshining his opponents and shine on the courts this year too.