Benoît Paire’s 2022 season did not start so badly, however, with a victory over Grigor Dimitrov and an honorable defeat against Stefanos Tsitsipas in the 3rd round of the Australian Open. But since then, it’s been an absolute disaster, with 8 defeats in a row in the first round, if we put aside a victory without a future. in a challenger in Phoenix early March. The latest on Monday against South Korean Soon-Woo Kwon 6-4, 6-4.
A lasting crisis of confidence
As often, Paire quickly got out of his match, breaking his racket on his first service game. A broken second racket after the loss of the first set earned him a penalty point. The 32-year-old Avignonnais, who nevertheless fought as best he could in defense, lost his service at 5-4 at the end of each set and only spent 1h27 on the court, confirming his crisis of current trust.
“It’s hard, it’s moments in my head when I’m feverish and the game is turning,” he said last week after a close game abandoned to Italian hope Musetti. You may be well prepared, but if you arrive at the game stressed, the pressure catches up with you and you don’t feel good on the court. If Paire also clarified that he “didn’t want to go see a shrink”, the Frenchman is indeed immersed in a long tennis depression since the pandemic, even if the return of the public last year to Roland -Garros had seemed to reconcile him with life on the circuit. Visibly premature satisfaction.