Benoit Paire is probably experiencing the most difficult period of his career. The French tennis player fell short of expectations at the Challenger tournament in Noumea, where he lost to Raul Brancaccio in the quarterfinals, and then tried to make it through the Australian Open qualifiers.
After defeating Brazil’s Matheus Pucinelli de Almeida in three closely fought sets, Paire collapsed against Michael Mmoh and stopped in the second round. At the end of his Australian adventure, the player born in 1989 subsequently lost three consecutive matches at the Challengers of Tenerife 1 and 2 and Quimper.
The last defeat suffered against Santiago Rodriguez Taverna has opened a big question mark on the future of Paire, which has caused discussion with a gesture that is anything but nice. In fact, the Frenchman didn’t shake his rival’s hand and quickly reached the locker room.
The negative performances at the beginning of 2023 drastically compromised his ranking. Right now, consulting the live ranking, Paire occupies the 212th position and could lose further ground until next Monday if certain players do well this week.
Paire is experiencing the most difficult period of his career
The statistic becomes even more disturbing when analyzing the past. The Frenchman hadn’t been outside the top 200 since June 28, 2010. In 2016, Paire also reached his best ranking at eighteenth position.
The Avignon native had recently talked about his personal problems, further fueling the debate on the mental health of athletes. “Since the beginning of the year I’ve had to struggle with my mind. I think after Covid there haven’t been many moments where I’ve felt very happy.
I am quite sensitive and emotional so everything that happened affected and hurt me more than most. The difficult thing is not knowing when it heals and it could take a long time. I understood that I need help. Now I follow a therapy from a psychologist and a mental coach to try to understand what is happening to me.”
Rodriguez #Taverna ð¦ð· vence a Paire ð«ð· 6/2 6/4 y pasa a octavos en #Tenerife ðð» @tenisargentina #tennis #TenerifeChallenger #ATPChallenger #VisitTenerife pic.twitter.com/Owda6lThwb — MEF tennis events (@meftennisevents) January 30, 2023
