‘Prefer To Pay the Fine’ – Tough Times for Benoit Paire As He Abruptly Pulls Out of an ATP Tournament

Benoit Paire’s 2022 season has gone from bad to worse. From squandering match points to first-round exits to withdrawing from the tournaments, Frenchman’s woes this season have no end. Following his exit in his tournament opener at the Miami Masters against Henri Laaksonen, the 32-year-old traveled half the world to play a challenger tournament in Portugal. However, the series of events that unfolded after he hit the practice session were absurd, and at the same time astonishing as well.

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Benoit Paire withdraws from the upcoming tournament in Portugal

After his early defeats at the Indian Wells Masters and the Miami Masters, Paire traveled to Lisbon, Portugal, to prepare for his next tournament. But, his woes continued, as he withdrew from the event even before he could play a match. He was supposed to be the top seed at the Oeiras Challenger, which is an ATP Challenger event.

The 32-year-old’s training session at the Jamor tennis complex was short-lived. He practiced with Portuguese player Illia Stoliar for five minutes. He then went on to withdraw from the tournament citing an injury to his left hand. Paire claims that he suffered this injury back in Miami, but had been ignoring it.

“Everything is right but I came to try to play .. i prefer to pay the fine and stay at home to be honest but I am sad not to play this very nice tournament,” the the54th rank Paire tweeted in response to a tweet by Jose Morgado.

Benoit Paire is incredibly talented, but his career has been plagued with inconsistencies. Once a Top 2o player, the Frenchman has fallen off the ranks drastically. Barring a four-set win against Grigor Dimitrov in the second round at the Australian Open, the 32-year-old has nothing to cheer about this season.

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With the clay season just around the corner, his most successful surface, the Frenchman should be keen to bounce back. The extent of Paire’s injury is yet to be confirmed. Can Paire, recovering from his injury, rise from his extended slumber to reinvent his old self?

Only time can tell as he seeks solutions to improve his on-court performances!