The Basel Open and the Vienna Open were final attempts for players to prepare for the Rolex Paris Masters. Numerous top-ranked players, such as Andrey Rublev, Casper Ruud, Grigor Dimitrov, and Alex de Minaur, were motivated to use these tournaments to secure their spots in the ATP Finals 2024. But to everyone’s surprise, Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard and Jack Draper clinched the last two ATP 500 titles of the season.
Perricard has had one of the best emergences on the tour. The Frenchman started the year as the 205th-ranked player in the world and is now #31 on the same list.
The Lyon native made waves in his home tournament, reaching the finals and entering the top-100 list for the first time. This impressive form was carried out even after the conclusion of the clay-court season, reaching the fourth round of Wimbledon 2024.
The 21-year-old majorly participated in Challenger events during the first few months of the year. But since becoming a regular at ATP-level tournaments, Perricard has clinched impressive wins over multiple renowned players such as Sebastian Korda, Alexander Bublik, and a few others.
But his most memorable set of performances came this past week. The 6ft 8” monstrous server clinched victories over Felix Auger-Aliassime, Denis Shapovalov, Holger Rune, and Ben Shelton to win the Swiss Indoors. This title win allowed him to pocket $472,130, adding to the $858,328 he’s previously won YTD.
View this post on Instagram
Jack Draper, on the other hand, was a fairly renowned player (World No.61) entering the 2024 season. However, he did improve multiple aspects of his game to elevate his performance.
Draper had a series of opening-round losses to begin the campaign. He would only become a household name during the grass-court season, lifting his first career title in Stuttgart. Sadly, he fell to his compatriot Cam Norrie in the second round of Wimbledon. But he had quite a redemption in his trip to North America.
The 22-year-old had the best performance of his career during the US Open 2024. He won 15 sets consecutively en route to the semifinal of the Grand Slam, contributing massively to his rise in self-belief and rankings.
He carried that momentum to the Vienna Open. Wins over Tomas Machac, Lorenzo Musetti, and Karen Khachanov resulted in the second title of his career. Apart from adding $503,077 to the $2,119,354 he’s already earned this year, Draper’s win in Austria propels him to a new career high of #15.
View this post on Instagram
Draper has enjoyed a far more accomplished campaign among the two. But solely based on a rise in rankings, it is evident that Perricard has had a better breakout performance. One thing is certain, both players have all the weapons in their arsenal to take the tennis world by storm in 2025.
