Paris (AFP)
"The ATP circuit has become sad, boring and ridiculous ...": Benoît Paire posted his blues Friday on social networks and explained that despite the psychological difficulties linked to the pandemic, he intended to continue trying to "enjoy" on the courts.
"I know, you're going to say + you don't realize how lucky you are bla-bla-bla +, but playing in closed stadiums without any atmosphere is not why I play tennis", explains he said in a message on Instagram, two days after a more than pitiful performance at the tournament in Santiago de Chile.
The 29th in the world is one of the players who has endured the most difficult health conditions imposed by tournament organizers since last summer.
Several weeks of total isolation in a New York hotel for testing positive for covid-19 before the start of the US Open in September, then fourteen days of regulatory lockdown upon his arrival in Melbourne for the Australian Open in January without an exit permit for having been in contact on the plane, then a day of isolation because of a positive Covid case in his hotel ... And a poor elimination in the first round.
After the Australian Major, Paire moved to South America because he hoped to enjoy more open living conditions there.
But on the court, he chained the setbacks: a tantrum with spitting and elimination in the first round in Buenos Aires and a new elimination from the first round in Santiago in an almost worrying apathy.
"It takes time for me to adapt to this pseudo ATP circuit, but I will make the efforts to try to just find the pleasure of playing tennis", he affirms while confirming that he will align himself with Acapulco (March 15-20) then at the Master 1000 in Miami (March 24-April 4).
"My goal will be just to have a smile on the pitch and enjoy kicking a ball, whether I win or lose, I really don't care," he concludes.
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