ANNE-CHRISTINE POUJOULAT / AFP
Tennis player Benoît Paire at the ATP 250 in Montpellier on January 29, 2024.
TENNIS – He once again lost his cool. Questioned by a virulent spectator installed in the stands, French tennis player Benoît Paire expressed his anger this Wednesday, January 31 during the second round of the ATP 250 in Montpellier.
Benoît Paire had a good performance on Monday by beating the Englishman Andy Murray, his first victory on the main circuit since 2022. The Frenchman faced Harold Mayot this Wednesday, but the match started rather badly since he was ahead of 2 sets to 0 from the first minutes. This result obviously did not please a man who came to see him play.
As you can see in the video above, it’s impossible to understand what this viewer is saying. The tennis player on the court is completely audible: “What’s the matter with you? What after the match? What’s after the match? Who do you think You Are ? »
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“At some point he doesn’t have the right to do that,” we then hear him say to the chair umpire. The meeting was commented on The TV Team. The journalist explains that Benoît Paire was probably, like Gaël Monfils at the same tournament, bothered by a punter unhappy with the athlete’s performance.
“He told me: ‘I’ll wait for you at the end’. When someone told me that… I could see that he was betting and people like that have nothing to do in a stadium,” the player then explained, according to comments reported by The Team. The sports daily adds that the spectator in question was expelled from the stands.
Ultimately, Benoît Paire did not win the match (6-1/6-4). But he assures us, “that’s not what made me lose. It’s a pain, but we are professional players and we know that people bet. When people attack us on social networks, we try to ignore it. But when it’s in the stands and someone threatens us, I don’t find it terrible.”
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