{"id":235921,"date":"2025-10-23T20:56:17","date_gmt":"2025-10-23T20:56:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/235921\/"},"modified":"2025-10-23T20:56:17","modified_gmt":"2025-10-23T20:56:17","slug":"two-time-atp-champion-set-to-tumble-down-the-rankings-and-leave-the-top-50-after-defeat-to-joao-fonseca","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/235921\/","title":{"rendered":"Two-time ATP champion set to tumble down the rankings and leave the top 50 after defeat to Joao Fonseca"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"\/ Follow us on Google Discover <\/a> <\/p>\n

Joao Fonseca picked up his first ATP win since the US Open at the Swiss Indoors in Basel.<\/p>\n

The Brazilian wonderkid hadn\u2019t won a match at an ATP-sanctioned tournament since he beat Miomir Kecmanovic in the first round of the US Open<\/a> 58 days ago.<\/p>\n

To the surprise of many, Fonseca<\/a> didn\u2019t travel to Asia and instead chose to rest and recover in preparation for the European indoor hard-court season.<\/p>\n

He made his return in Brussels, but lost his opening match to Botic van de Zandschulp<\/a>, 5-7, 6-7.<\/p>\n

\"JoaoPhoto by Joris Verwijst\/BSR Agency\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

Heading over to Basel for the Swiss Indoors, he took on the defending champion in his tournament debut.<\/p>\n

Securing the win, he condemned his opponent to a first-round exit and a tumble down the rankings\u2026<\/p>\n

Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard set for top-50 exit after Joao Fonseca defeat<\/p>\n

2024 Swiss Indoors champion Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard<\/a> has endured a difficult season, but looked to have found some form in Brussels last week, reaching the semifinals.<\/p>\n

Unfortunately for the Frenchman, he couldn\u2019t carry that momentum forward to Basel, as he lost to Fonseca in straight sets, 6-7, 3-6.<\/p>\n

Mpetshi Perricard\u2019s serve was as good as ever, but it wasn\u2019t enough to get him over the line, as he lost his first career meeting with the young Brazilian.<\/p>\n

Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard\u2019s serving stats vs Joao FonsecaAces \u2013 13Double faults \u2013 0First serve % \u2013 77%Win % on First serve \u2013 65%Win % on Second serve \u2013 80%Service points won \u2013 45<\/p>\n

With the defeat, the world number 33 will drop over 20 places in the ATP rankings.<\/p>\n

RankNameCountryPoints51Jenson BrooksbyUSA1,01752Miomir KecmanovicSerbia1,00153Sebastian KordaUSA97054Marton FucsovicsHungary96955Giovanni Mpetshi PerricardFrance96556Reilly OpelkaUSA96057Benjamin BonziFrance93058Tomas Martin EtcheverryArgentina93059Valentin RoyerFrance92260Adrian MannarinoFrance917Snapshot of the Live ATP Rankings<\/p>\n

Seeing him fall down the rankings won\u2019t come as too much of a surprise to those who have watched Mpetshi Perricard play this year, as he continues to struggle.<\/p>\n

Just 12 months ago, Mpetshi Perricard was being praised by Andy Roddick<\/a>, who suggested he could \u2018change tennis\u2019 with his serve, so what\u2019s gone wrong for the Frenchman?<\/p>\n

Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard has one of the weakest returns in tennis<\/p>\n

Everyone is well aware of Mpetshi Perricard\u2019s serving prowess, as he currently ranks 1st on the ATP Tour for \u2018Serve Rating\u2019 over the past 12 months.<\/p>\n

His \u2018Return Rating\u2019 tells a different story, however, as he sits in 86th place.<\/p>\n

The numbers he is producing just won\u2019t cut it against the best players in the men\u2019s game\u2026<\/p>\n

PlayerReturn Rating (Rank)Return Rating% 1st Serve return points won% 2nd Serve return points won% Return games won% Break points convertedJannik Sinner1170.833.4%58.5%33.3%45.6%Carlos Alcaraz2164.934.9%53.9%31.7%44.4%Novak Djokovic9153.531.4%53.2%26.5%42.4%Alexander Zverev20145.030.3%51.1%22.8%40.8%Taylor Fritz38137.025.9%51.1%18.6%41.4%Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard8698.820.7%35.8%8.1%34.2%Comparing Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard\u2019s \u2018Return Rating\u2019 to the ATP top five<\/p>\n

If he wants to add to his tally of two ATP titles and return to the world\u2019s top 50, it\u2019s not difficult to pinpoint the area of his game that Mpetshi Perricard needs to work on.<\/p>\n

\"GiovanniPhoto by EMILE WINDAL\/Belga\/AFP via Getty Images<\/p>\n

He does, however, still have two more chances to pick up points before the end of 2025, as he now heads home to France.<\/p>\n

Mpetshi Perricard will compete at the Paris Masters<\/a> next week, looking to improve upon his second-round defeat last year.<\/p>\n

\"APhoto by Dean Mouhtaropoulos\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

He\u2019ll then wrap up his 2025 campaign at the ATP 250 event in Metz.<\/p>\n

Things aren\u2019t looking great for Mpetshi Perricard right now, but with his dominant serve, it would be unwise to overlook him as a contender on indoor hard courts.<\/p>\n

Only time will tell if Mpetshi Perricard can return to winning ways when the Paris Masters begin on Monday, October 27.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Follow us on Google Discover Joao Fonseca picked up his first ATP win since the US Open at…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":235922,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[565],"tags":[753,64,63,112938,43284,85,747],"class_list":{"0":"post-235921","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-tennis","8":"tag-atp","9":"tag-au","10":"tag-australia","11":"tag-giovanni-mpetshi-perricard","12":"tag-joao-fonseca","13":"tag-sports","14":"tag-tennis"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/235921","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=235921"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/235921\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/235922"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=235921"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=235921"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=235921"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}