Maybe Benoît Paire needs to keep thinking, to wring his brains out not really knowing what interest he has in being on a tennis court. Because obviously, when he is in this state, neither convinced nor very happy to live his job in the current context, the Avignonnais seems to be capable of anything in 2022. This year in any case, behind the fatality, he is bought a bit of calm and lucidity.
Thursday, in the second round of the Australian Open, on court No. 3 where he received an abundance of his dripping love, chanted, shouted by about fifteen excited young people massed in a corner of the stadium, the 56th world ousted without pomp or genius, but with resolution and application the Bulgarian and seeded No. 26, Grigor Dimitrov, in four sets and 3:18 (6-4, 6-4, 6-7 [4], 7-6 [2]).
It was not a hair-raising match, punctuated by 90 cumulative unforced errors in total, Dimitrov doing more than his share in the first two sets, where the former world No. 3 was often next to the plate, especially in right hit. But when you manage to get a seeded player out of the tournament by serving only 51% of first serves, which was the case on Thursday with Benoît Paire, when the service is supposed to carry you, it’s because there are d ‘other qualities, other convictions behind.
Lots of calm and character
Benoît Paire showed great calm and character. He was able to hold on when he felt the little physical blow that happened in the middle of the third set, after two initial sets rather in his hand. Audaciously, sometimes bluffing, on perfectly felt offbeat climbs, serve and volley behind the second ball as one goes up to the front, sublime uncrossed backhands and offhand, he resisted the Bulgarian’s rise in level, especially in the quality of service over the last two sets.
However, the Frenchman, not necessarily known for his titanium mind, could have collapsed when he gave up the decisive game of the third set, chaining unforced forehand, double fault and unforced backhand to let Dimitrov return to the game. !
But Paire, who had not reached a third Grand Slam round since their round of 16 at Wimbledon in 2019, did not give in. He broke early in the fourth set, even missed two double breaker opportunities at 3-0, before being caught.
Once again, in “normal” times, we would have seen coming “as big as a house” the defeat with a thousand regrets in five sets. But there no. Without ever saying a word throughout the meeting, the Frenchman resisted, fought, remained standing. To finally push Dimitrov out of the game, in a second tie-break that the Bulgarian harvested in large widths.
Mannarino, Cornet, Paire, the rainbow of French tennis
After Adrian Mannarino on Wednesday, Alizé Cornet this Thursday morning, Benoit Paire this afternoon, here are three brilliant performances of French tennis in two days. It’s no longer a sunny spell, it’s a rainbow! For his third Australian third round, after 2014 and 2017, the Avignonnais will challenge Stefanos Tsitsipas for a first qualification in the round of 16 in Melbourne. The fifth meeting between the two men (3-1 for the Greek) already promises to be delicious…
