The clay court season on the ATP Tour continues with the Italian Open, where Jannik Sinner is making his return to competitive tennis.
Sinner’s suspension has been labelled ‘convenient’, with the ATP number one having just served a three-month ban.
He was able to compete at and win the Australian Open earlier this season, and now returns on home soil at the Italian Open.
Sinner is the top seed at the ATP Masters 1000 tournament in Rome, with his fellow top three players Alexander Zverev and Carlos Alcaraz also involved.
All three have received byes into round two, with many others having been required to get underway in round one.
Photo by Marco Iacobucci/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty ImagesJim Courier tips Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard to be a real threat despite winless run
And that was the case for Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard, who has been the topic of discussion between former world number one players Andy Roddick and Jim Courier.
Speaking on the Tennis Channel Live Podcast, Roddick said: “He is going to run hot and cold. You wonder if it’s like the second time through the line-up thing that we talk about in baseball.
“Are people getting a read on his serve? It’s obviously tougher to hit those 125mph half first serve, half second serves on clay as opposed to indoors.
“He has taken his lumps a little bit. He obviously was in qualies for Grand Slams last summer. I think we forget about that.
“He had a heck of a run there, but this is a tough match up for him. Jordan Thompson is so savvy, he can stay back, he can come in. He is well-versed. He can hit those chip returns and be speedy around the court.
“So it’s not totally surprising for me this is a tough match up and it’s not totally surprising to me that the product fit with clay and Mpetshi Perricard has been challenging so far.”
Courier meanwhile commented: “You guys remember liberation day when the tariffs were announced and the stock market just went into a nosedive?
Photo by Pedro Salado/Getty Images
“A lot of smart people bought the dip and that’s what I would be doing if I was an Mpetshi Perricard fan right now.
“I would buy the dip, because I would go long on his future. This guy is going to bother people. Clay is not going to be his best surface. It could still be a decent surface though.
“Just ask John Isner. A little more time on the ball. He needs a little more time on tour. I think Andy is right about second time through the line up.
“Now all the coaches on tour are a little more tuned in to how you might be able to get to him. I think this guy is going to be very good, I just think it’s going to take him a little bit longer.
“Sometimes these big guys, it takes them a little bit longer to put it all together. There is a lot of length in those levers they have got to organise.”
Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard continues disastrous form at the Italian Open
The big-serving Perricard beat Zhang Zhizhen in his opener at the Dubai Tennis Championships in February, but has endured a miserable run since then.
The two-time ATP champion has lost every single match barring his Indian Wells opener, when Fabian Marozsan was forced to retire.
The disastrous run includes early exits at the likes of the Miami Open, Monte Carlo Masters and Madrid Open.
But the Frenchman has now continued his cold run at the Italian Open, having lost his opener to Jordan Thompson.
Perricard will be particularly eager to see the back of the Australian, who has knocked him out of Miami, Monte Carlo and now Rome.
The 21-year-old, ranked 36th in the world, took the first set against Thompson before losing the match 3-6, 6-3, 7-6(7-5).