How 38-year-old Gael Monfils outlasted 21-year-old compatriot Mpetshi Perricard in a thriller | Tennis News
One of the marquee first-round matchups on the men’s side of the Australian Open was a contest between a resurgent veteran that had, for long, been one of the only flag-bearers of French tennis and his 17-year-younger compatriot, whose big-hitting, big-serving game has had onlookers raving about his potential with some even marking him as one of the underdogs to watch ahead of the tournament.It did not disappoint.
Over a nearly four-hour-long, five-set grind, Gael Monfils, 38 and hitting form once again, defeated Giovanni Mpetschi Perricard, the 6-ft 8-in tall 21-year-old whose 230 kmph thunderbolt first serves have universally caught the tennis cognoscenti’s eyes, in front of a thoroughly entertained, maximum capacity crowd on one of the more intimate outside courts at Melbourne Park on Tuesday.
It was a match of breathless serving and high-intensity rallies that eventually came down to which player could cope with the tensions of tiebreakers with more composure. Monfils, who did not even face a break point all game, unexpectedly came out of the blocks with more aggression and, after clinching the first-set breaker that went into overtime, quickly fashioned a two-set lead.
Mpetshi Perricard’s superior serve eventually came out on top though, the younger player winning many more free points and testing Monfils’s 38-year-old legs in the second half of the match, winning the next two sets on tight tiebreakers and forcing a decider. The young Frenchman was in the ascendancy but cracked under pressure, double-faulting twice in the first game of the fifth set which Monfils broke him on and rode out to the victory.
After years of injury-induced inertia seemingly pushing him into the twilight of his career, Monfils has shown signs of a revival in the early weeks of 2025. The Frenchman won the ATP 250 tuneup event to the Australian Open in Auckland, pipping Roger Federer to become the oldest title-winner in ATP hory. He was unfortunately forced into what seemed like a nightmare opening assignment.
Mpetshi Perricard had been the name most would hope to avoid in the opening stages of the draw. His game is built around his lethal serve. The playing style had built an upward trajectory through the rankings – after reaching the fourth round at Wimbledon as a lucky loser last year, he won titles at his home event in Lyon and at the indoor ATP 500 event in Basel — to being ranked as high as World No. 30.
The two in-form Frenchman collided in the tournament opener in Melbourne with plenty of momentum and expectations behind them. And it was Monfils, who made his Australian Open debut when his opponent was 18 months old, that seized the moment.
“I can tell you that tomorrow morning I will be (feeling) more 48 than 38,” Monfils would say after the match, per AP. “I know … I can sometimes have the double of the age of the guy. I have, yeah, I think 21 years of career, and he’s 21 years old, Giovanni. Of course numbers are there, but I’m fighting, so I try not to put any number in my head.”
The battle may have been an exacting one, but the veteran and the ba-faced freshman – handed a lesson on what it takes to win on this stage – would be pictured cooling down later in endearing footage from the locker room.
Rublev bundled out
The two Russians at the top of the men’s game were made to toil with contrasting fortunes in their tournament openers on Tuesday.
Eighth seed Andrey Rublev became the first top 10 player – man or woman – to lose at the Australian Open after he was outplayed Grand Slam debutant Joao Fonseca in a straight-sets defeat.
Rublev’s power game and big forehand have established him as a long-time top 10 player but his inability to move into the semifinals of a Major, despite 10 quarterfinal appearances, exposes limitations in his technique and temperament that have gotten the better of him in recent times. Videos of Rublev causing harm to himself smashing his racquet did the rounds far more frequently than those of his successes in 2024.
Going through a lean patch, the draw had not been kind to him in matching him up with Fonseca, who is fresh off of his triumph at the ATP NextGen Finals – a tournament won Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner in the past – and on a 13-match winning streak. The 18-year-old Brazilian held his nerve well to get past Rublev and take the 7-6 (1), 6-3, 7-6 (5) victory for a dream Major debut.
Last year’s runner-up, Daniil Medvedev, on the other hand, escaped from what had the potential to be one of the biggest upsets in Melbourne in recent times when he came back from a 1-2 sets deficit to beat Kasidit Samrej, the World No. 418 from Thailand who was playing on a wildcard, 6-2, 4-6, 3-6, 6-1, 6-2.
The Russian got away with a win but left with concerning feelings about his 1200-point defence this fortnight.
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