Mpetshi Perricard's sister act

The family is based in Lyon and sport runs in their genes. Her father, Ghislain, was a semi-professional footballer; her mother, Sylvie, played volleyball while her sister, Ariane, played basketball. And then there is her brother, of course.

Daphnée has been coached by Thomas Voiturier for the past eight years and he sums up his charge’s game as “she hits hard from the baseline and she has a good serve”. That hardly comes as a revelation given her family’s pedigree. But it is the role of Sylvie that is all-important in this story.

She travels with Daphnée not to be the pushy tennis parent nor to try her hand at coaching but simply to be Daphnée’s mum: someone to lean on when things are not going well and someone to keep her feet on the ground when they are. She also encourages Daphnée to heed her brother’s example: Giovanni is a level headed chap who takes the highs with the lows and just keeps working towards his goal.

The result is that Daphnée is a remarkably mature young woman. Her world ranking of No.1221 may not sound like much but this is just the beginning of her journey. On Tuesday on Court 7, she faces Gabriela Knutson, the 28-year-old world No.199 from Czechia and whatever the result, it will be another stepping stone for the newest of the Mpetshi Perricard dynasty.

Three to watch on Tuesday

Marin Cilic (CRO) v Wu Yibing (CHN)

Court 14, fifth match

As every player knows (and possibly dreads), you are a long time retired. Even so, to see Marin Cilic in the qualifying draw came as something of a surprise. Rewind the tape 20 years and Cilic was winning the Roland Garros junior title, taking out Andy Murray in the semi-finals. At the same time Rafael Nadal won the first of his 14 senior titles here. Today both Nadal and Murray are happily retired but Cilic, the 2014 US Open champion, is still grafting away. A serious knee injury that required two rounds of surgery kept him away from the courts for much of the past two seasons and saw his ranking drop out of the top 1000, but still the 36-year-old wants to test himself against the younger men.

Sara Errani (ITA) v Jule Niemeier (GER)

Court 14, second match

If it’s May in Paris, it must be time to watch Sara Errani in qualifying. Between 2017 and now, the Italian world No.179 has made eight trips to Roland Garros and she has had to face the qualifying tournament six times (she has found success three times so far in that run). Not that it matters that much to the 38-year-old: it is in doubles that she is still mopping up the trophies and sitting in the upper tiers of the rankings. She comes here as the champion of Rome (partnered by Jasmine Paolini) and as last year’s doubles runner up (again with Paolini) and as the Olympic doubles champion.

Christopher Eubanks (USA) v Jurij Rodionov (AUT)

Court 8, second match

Two years ago, Christopher Eubanks announced his arrival on the big stage by reaching the quarter-finals at Wimbledon. With little faith in his ability on the grass, he relied on a few words of encouragement from Kim Clijsters and his own tactical nous (honed by spells in the TV commentary booth analysing his rivals’ game plans) and, hey presto, he was the talk of SW19 and the new world No.29. He could not defend those ranking points last summer and now, back out of the top 100, he is in qualifying here. A hard court player by nature, he has still been putting in the clay court work on the Challenger Tour this spring. And his huge serve is still a weapon on any surface.

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