Daniil Medvedev suggests how to combat Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard’s big serve after beating him in Dubai

Posted by author February 27, 2025 Tennis

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Daniil Medvedev has had a tricky time in 2025 so far, having started off with a shock Australian Open second round exit.

Medvedev may be worried about his future, with the former world number one now sixth in the ATP rankings.

Russian star Medvedev is now taking on the Dubai Tennis Championships, his fourth tournament since that Melbourne nightmare.

He lost to American teenager Learner Tien at the Australian Open, and followed that up with a Rotterdam Open round of 16 loss to Mattia Bellucci.

Medvedev then fell in the semi-finals and the quarter-finals of the Open 13 in Marseille and Qatar Open respectively, and now finds himself in the quarter-finals in Dubai.

Photo by Noushad Thekkayil/NurPhoto via Getty Images

How Daniil Medvedev overcame big Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard serve in Dubai

The Dubai Tennis Championships top seed overcame Jan-Lennard Struff in the round of 32, before knocking out the big-hitting Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard in the round of 16.

And Medvedev has now shared insight into the latter victory, having been asked on court if he found it interesting to have a tactical challenge against such an aggressive, attacking player.

READ MORE: Daniil Medvedev pinpoints one area of his game he’s been working to improve in training since shock Australian Open defeat

“It’s not easy,” replied Medvedev, as quoted by The Tennis Letter. “I feel like tactically it’s easy in a way because the most important is to be strong on your serve. So you make sure you get to the tiebreak. I was very good on my serve today so that helped.

“Like this you can start to put pressure on his serve step by step. In general happy with my level. I think I had more opportunities to break. Happy it worked out.”

Medvedev on beating Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard in Dubai

“Did you find it interesting to have that tactical challenge against such an aggressive attacking player?”

Daniil: It’s not easy. I feel like tactically it’s easy in a way because the most important is to be strong on your… pic.twitter.com/wzF9aAPO2D

— The Tennis Letter (@TheTennisLetter) February 26, 2025

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Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard tops ATP Tour serve leaders table

Medvedev progressed with a 6-4, 6-4 victory over Mpetshi Perricard in the round of 16, in what was their first meeting on the ATP Tour.

And somewhat surprisingly it was the former who outshone the latter in their service games, with six aces compared to three respectively, and one double fault compared to six.

READ MORE: The three players who have the best chance of forming the next Big Three alongside Jannik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz

Despite being just 21 years old, the Frenchman has proven himself to be one of the most lethal servers in recent times.

The youngster sits at the very top of the pile when it comes to serve leaders on the ATP Tour with a serve rating of 302.1, with Medvedev (265.6) not even among the top 50.

Rank	Player	Serve rating	% 1st serve	% 1st serve points won	% 2nd serve points won	% service games won	Avg aces/match	Avg double faults/match
1	Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard	302.1	64.8%	79.7%	53.8%	90.0%	19.3	5.5
2	Matteo Berrettini	299.2	68.9%	77.6%	53.5%	90.2%	10.6	1.6
3	Alexander Zverev	297.5	70.1%	76.9%	54.5%	89.2%	9.2	2.4
4	Jannik Sinner	296.5	61.1%	79.8%	58.5%	91.4%	7.6	1.9
5	Taylor Fritz	295.3	62.7%	79.1%	55.7%	89.2%	10.4	1.8