With the return of the earth, Benoît Paire continues to dig… Sunday, after his defeat in the 1st round of the Masters 1000 in Monte-Carlo, the Avignon resident followed the path of the sad and caricatural provocation traced for several months.
Unhappy on the court, depressed to play "in a cemetery", finding life "to shit", the world No. 35 unearthed a rather unexpected refrain given his exemplary attitude on the court a few minutes earlier against the Australian Thompson (6-4, 6-7, 7-6 in 3:04).
"The circuit is rotten, but I took 12,000 balls
(Editor's note: the prize money of an early setback)
", summarized the Habs, who is also playing bad luck since his positive test for Covid-19 in the US Open last summer.
Nice paradox.
Paire no longer supports the exercise of his profession during a period of health restrictions but continues to draw “subsidies” from it thanks to the “Covid” freeze in the ranking over a year and a half, which has saved him from a dizzying fall into the depths of ATP and allows him in particular direct access to the final table of tournaments.
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Since the end of the Australian Open, the Vauclusian has played six singles events (one success, six losses) in Cordoba, Buenos Aires, Santiago, Acapulco, Miami and Monaco.
With its share of pranks on the court, verbal slippages linked to his discomfort and cocktail glasses posted on social networks.
And a little woolen sock of around 65,000 euros (just over 47,000 in singles and 18,000 in doubles, including a final in Cordoba, before his debut on the Rock with Mannarino).
5,500 euros fine for his behavior in Buenos Aires
Cynicism?
Indecency?
Outrage?
The Frenchman has in any case attracted the wrath of dismayed former players, in particular his “best enemy” Marion Bartoli who is calling for sanctions from the tennis authorities.
“He does not serve tennis, does not help himself either, wisely explained Toni Nadal, the uncle of the world n ° 3 and new coach of Auger-Aliassime.
It is also giving little value to effort.
If he's tired of the current situation, he'd better keep it to himself.
“For the time being, Paire has been fined 5,500 euros from the ATP for his behavior in Buenos Aires, where he spat several times on the court before swinging at the end of the match.
A punishable non-combativity in tennis.
He also took a soap on the phone of Gilles Moretton, the new president of the French Federation.
On the other hand, the ethics committee of the FFT, which was for the first time self-seized, did not turn to the competent disciplinary bodies while deploring the player's breaches of the values of his sport.
Taking into account a letter of apology sent by the person concerned, which expressed his desire to improve and invoked mental fatigue and a lack of training explaining his nervousness and tension.
Regarding his recurring outings in front of the microphones (where he must present himself ... under penalty of a fine!), Pair, who says "maybe bullshit under the influence of impulsivity", should not attract the wrath of ATP.
Even if, according to the rules, his words are "to the detriment of the success of a tournament, ATP and / or sport".
His "this tournament is crap" thrown in the face of the Australian Open in February had no consequences.
In the current atypical period, where some of the players grumble and support another association project (PTPA), leniency seems rather de rigueur.
Excluded from the French delegation at the Rio Olympics
The Canadian Vasek Pospisil thus managed to treat without damage the president of the ATP Andrea Gaudenzi of "fucking asshole"
(Editor's note: fucking asshole)
during a change of side in Miami.
The American Sam Querrey, for his part, embarked on an absurd escape from the Saint Petersburg tournament against a backdrop of positivity to Covid-19 which earned him ... 20,000 dollars in fine (16,800 euros) with reprieve with '' a six-month probationary period.
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We are far from 2016 when the whimsical Australian Nick Kyrgios, the kangaroo version of Paire, had to agree to go see a sports psychologist to avoid two months of suspension after a crack in Shanghai which had cost him in passing close to 40,000 euros.
However, it would surely do the greatest good for the hexagonal n ° 4 ...
Finally, it's worth it to suck 😘🖕🏻 pic.twitter.com/PbWsGQLa1A
- pair benoit (@benoitpaire) March 4, 2021
On the FFT side, the possible springs can be a non-selection for the France team (which no longer plays until the Davis Cup in autumn) or, closer, ineligibility for the Tokyo Olympics.
“We set our rules of the game, warned Moretton.
It is Nicolas Escudé
(Editor's note: the DTN)
who will also set the rules to answer the question of a possible selection.
I will not take Benoît by default.
We will not take a position immediately.
"
Five years ago, Paire had breathed a sesame for Rio to Lucas Pouille in extremis ... before being excluded from the French delegation in Brazil for having transgressed the rules of collective life (he regularly left the Olympic village in order to find Shy ' m, his companion at the time). “It was a tournament where there were no points, no money, he had swung. The goal is to train well to prepare for next week. That's what I did. I am very happy. "In view of the upcoming Olympics, not sure that an absence is really a punishment ...