Matthew Perry's Final Public Appearance Before His Death Was at the French Open in Paris

The ‘Friends’ star has been a lifelong tennis fan — even training to become a pro as a teenager

Matthew Perry spent his last public appearance following his favorite sport.

The Friends star attended the French Open at Stade Roland Garros in Paris, France on June 9, marking his last public appearance before his death on Saturday at the age of 54.

Photos from the legendary tennis tournament show the late actor smiling, laughing and clapping with friends in the stands as he watched the semi-final match.

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Perry’s love for tennis is lifelong. Long before the star turned to acting — and landed the role of Chandler Bing that defined his career Friends — was a competitive player.

The actor started hitting at the age of 4, and by 13 he was the second junior tennis player in his hometown of Ottawa, Canada. He loved sports and devoted almost 10 hours a day to training, he said The New York Times in 2002.

Matthew Perry at the French Open in Paris on June 9.

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“I had to succeed in whatever I did so that I could feel better. I had incredible drive on the tennis court, and that translated into acting,” he said at the time.

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After moving to Los Angeles to live with his father and test his tennis skills in new territory at age 15, Perry faced stiff competition—and the reality that he wasn’t going to make a living as a tennis star.

“My family came out to watch me, and I was killed,” Perry told PEOPLE in 1996. “After that, there was no question about a tennis career. I knew I wasn’t good enough.”

While discussing his early tennis career with Men’s health In 2012, Perry said that quitting the sport “wasn’t really a decision I had to make.”

Matthew Perry 1985

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“I had a very good time in Canada. Not so much in Los Angeles,” he told the paper. “It was crazy.”

Perry continued: “I realized I wasn’t going to play tennis for a living, so I decided to go into acting. Are tennis and acting similar? I don’t know Both are very mental games. Both are very difficult things to be involved in.”

“I hope that the competitiveness that I had as a tennis player has disappeared now as I get older,” he added. “When I was 20 years old, I wanted to be better than everyone else. Now I just want everyone to be successful.”

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Perry’s stepfather, Date lineKeith Morrison, recalled the actor’s early intensity on the tennis court in an interview with PEOPLE in 2020.

“He’s one of those people who’s always in the center of the room for a reason and it was like that as a kid,” he said at the time. “He was extremely, extremely good on the tennis court and very intense.”

Matthew Perry at a charity tennis match in 1995.

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“He’s an intense, talented, focused character,” Morrison added. “He is very bright. That was always the case growing up.”

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Although Perry’s dreams of tennis stardom were dashed as a teenager, his love for the sport has stood the test of time. He continued to attend tennis tournaments, participate in charity games and praise the best players of the sport on social networks.

The actor also stayed in touch with his tennis roots by playing a similar court sport: pickleball.

Perry was a regular until his last day, when he reportedly played an hour-long game, according to the writing Extra host Billy Bush, who said he spoke to Perry’s scrubs partner after the star’s death.

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In an Instagram post dedicated to the late star, Bush shared that the game “regulated” the days leading up to Perry’s death — he played every day.

“Lately his greatest joy was the game of #pickleball,” Bush wrote, adding that the late actor “didn’t like the name but LOVED the game.”

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