Former top-30 player Giovanni Mpetschi Perricard has opened up on his “depression and burnout” after sliding down the rankings.

The big Frenchman enjoyed a breakthrough year in 2024, rising to 31st in the world and picking up his first ATP Tour titles in Lyon and Basel.

The 6ft 7in player beat the likes of Felix Auger-Aliassime, Holger Rune, and Ben Shelton at the Swiss Indoors, as his booming serve proved too hot to handle.

Just when it seemed like the then 21-year-old, who holds the record for the fastest serve at Wimbledon at 153mph, would become the next big thing in French tennis, Mpetschi Perricard‘s progress has come to a grinding halt.

This year, his record on tour is 8-18, and he’s fallen to 145th in the world after losing in the first round of qualifying in Brussels. Now, the former world No 29 has lifted the lid on his struggles.

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He told L’Equipe, “Nothing is going right apart from my serve. These past few months have certainly been difficult.

“There have been a lot of negative things, both in my game and outside it. I’m trying to put the pieces back together little by little, but it isn’t easy. It’s going to take a long time.”

The Frenchman failed to win a Grand Slam match this year and his sole Masters 1000 victory came in Rome over Jacob Fearnley. He has one of the biggest and best serves on tour but that is not nearly enough for him right now.

After the US Open, Mpetschi Perricard found himself without a coach, was playing just once every two or three days, and he stopped watching tennis, too.

He added, “It comes down to a little depression, burnout. My friends were there for me and helped me, because not all the ideas I was having were very good. They helped me enormously during a period when things were really not going well at all.”

Mpetschi Perricard – who was coached by former US Open finalist Greg Rusedski earlier this year – is currently on an eight-match losing streak. In that stretch, he lost to world No 227 Remy Bertola in Brussels and world No 817 Etienne Donnet at the Roanne Challenger.

Despite that, the 23-year-old is hopeful he can turn his fortunes around.

He said, “It’s a difficult slope, a steep one, and for now it’s a long one, but I have to persevere. It’s not easy. I need to change my mindset. It’s hard, really hard. I think things will work out, but it will take time.”

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