Wimbledon giant who stands at 6ft 8in hits fastest ever serve and obliterates record

Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard powered thunderous serves against Taylor Fritz in their opening match at Wimbledon and obliterated the previous speed record at SW19. American Taylor Dent has long held the serve speed record at the All England Club since his 148mph delivery in 2010.

Mpetshi Perricard blew that away with a 151mph serve under the Court 1 roof on Monday night - and then went one better with a 153mph bomb. Mpetshi Perricard was feeling so confident he also sent a 147mph second serve flying past Fritz, which would have challenged the record itself.

Fritz won two grass titles in the build-up to Wimbledon: the Boss Open and Eastbourne. The fifth seed, on his strongest surface, was expected to cruise past his giant opponent, who stands at 6ft 8in tall.

However, Mpetshi Perricard's incredible serving set Court 1 alight - and earned him the first two sets, both of which went to tiebreaks.

Fritz clawed back the third set as the scoreboard read 7-6(6) 7-6(8) 4-6 heading into the fourth set. And the American drew the scores level at 10.15pm local time, snatching a fourth-set tiebreak 8-6.

A tourmament organiser then entered the court and the match was postoned due to Wimbledon's 11pm curfew, meaning both players will have to return on Tuesday. It was deemed they may not have enough time to completed the fifth set, much to Fritz's frustration.

Mpetshi Perricard broke through at Wimbledon last year when he delivered 51 aces to knock out No. 20 seed Sebastian Korda en route to the fourth round.

And the 21-year-old Frenchman sat down with Express Sport ahead of the tournament to reflect on that breakthrough run.

"I was lucky to play! [Alejandro] Davidovich Fokina pulled out so that's why [I got in]," the world No. 36 told Express Sport.

"It was one of the best tournaments last year for me. I did some good stuff, first time I played in Wimbledon. I was grateful to be there and won a few matches, it helped me a lot for the next couple months.

"I remember the first one against Korda because it's where everything started. It was a nice one, a long one because there was some rain delay. I think we started at 11am and we finished at 5pm, so it was a big, big first round. It was good to beat a top player like him, especially on grass. He played unbelievable, I played well, it was a good memory."

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