Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard and His Return Problem

Before diving into the data, there’s a particularly telling stat about the tall Frenchman: in his last 20 Grand Slam sets on hard and grass, he hasn’t earned a single break point. That’s 103 consecutive return games without creating one.

The Numbers Don’t Lie

According to Tennis Abstract data, Mpetshi Perricard ranks last on tour in 14 return categories. Here they are (with the second-worst player in parentheses):

• Percentage of return points won: 25.9 (Tallon Griekspoor 32.6)
• Percentage of return points won excluding aces and double faults: 26.2 (Lorenzo Sonego 32.6)
• 1st-serve return points won: 20.1 (Griekspoor 24.8)
• 2nd-serve return points won: 35.8 (Griekspoor 44.8)
• Percentage of return games won: 7.5 (Alexei Popyrin 14.7)
• Points played per return game: 5.9 (seven players 6.2)
• Points won per return game: 1.5 (three players 2.0)
• Break points opportunities converted: 40 (Popyrin 84)
• Break points earned: 118 (Camilo Ugo Carabelli 227)
• Break points earned per return game: 0.22 (Sonego 0.39)
• Break points earned per set: 1.1 (Sonego 1.9)
• Break points earned per match: 2.8 (Ben Shelton 5.2)
• Return games won per set: 0.38 (Popyrin 0.74)
• Return games won per match: 1 (Popyrin/Griekspoor 2)

The Hangzhou Collapse

His most recent disasterclass came in the second round of the Hangzhou Open against Alexander Shevchenko. Somehow, he managed to win the first set 7-6 despite winning just three return points (two of them in the tiebreak). But he never scored a break or even created a break point. Over the match, he won just 15 return points in 17 return games and two tiebreaks — 15 out of 90 (17%). He’s young and has plenty of time to improve, but so far he can’t be satisfied with his game.