Benoît Paire does not digest. On Tuesday, the French Tennis Federation (FFT) gave the names of the lucky recipients of wild cards for the final table of the next Roland-Garros. And one of the most famous bearded men in French sport does not appear in this list of invitations, whether through the “Race France” (tickets awarded to Arthur Fils and Jessika Ponchet) or the “Race Internationale (Hugo Gaston and Clara Burel).
These ranking systems are separate from the ATP or WTA rankings, and only take into account the results of the current season, accumulating the best 18 results of each athlete. Yes, it is complicated, and the Paire case does not help to clarify the situation.
In theory, the Avignonnais (116th in the Race) can indeed still hope to overtake Gaston (105th) by May 15, the deadline by which the FFT was initially to award its invitations. “I hope it’s a mistake on the part of the FFT and that they will rectify it”, reacted Paire In The Team. Obviously not, since the “Fédé” explained on Twitter that the date had been brought forward to May 8 because “the Rome tournament will not end until May 21. »
Paire and Gaston engaged in two different tournaments
Only, the whimsical Vauclusien (34 years old) is currently competing in the Challenger of Francavilla, in Italy, while his competitor from Toulouse is lining up for the Challenger of Mauthausen, in Austria, which both conclude on Sunday May 14. On the eve of the initial deadline, therefore. And as Paire indicates on Elon Musk’s social network, in response to the FFT, “the race ranking is updated every day so there will be a new race ranking on May 15″…
“I’m not saying I’m going to win the tournament, but until it’s official, I don’t understand why they are announcing this when there is still this week to earn points,” he said. developed in The Team. The former 18th in the world explains that he built his schedule and signed up for Francavilla, where he is seeded No. 4, “to grab points out of the 27 that I am behind Hugo”.
On Tuesday, Paire qualified in three sets against the modest Italian Giorgio Tabacco after saving five match points, and must now face another Transalpine, Alessandro Gianesi. For his part, Gaston, seeded n ° 2 in Mauthausen, eliminated his compatriot Geoffrey Blancaneaux on Tuesday and is preparing to challenge the Australian Dane Sweeny. In the offices of the FFT, we have to cross our fingers so that the Haut-Garonnais goes further in Austria than the Avignonnais in Italy, just to close the controversy…