Thanks to "preparation" in the Maldives? Benoit Paire wins opening match in Madrid
Benoit Paire won his opening match at the ATP Masters tournament in Madrid. The question is: despite or because of his unusual preparation?
by Florian Goosmann
last edit: May 04, 2021, 11:01 pm
Benoit Paire made the tennis headlines recently, but his tennis wasn't the reason. Paire made mostly listless appearances, now and then there was a very listless and angry one , and now and then only an indifferent one . The current tour, Paire recently complained, was "sad, boring, ridiculous" without an audience .
In Madrid, Paire won against Munich winner Nikoloz Basilashvili 6: 4, 7: 5, it was only his third match win since the resumption of the tour in August 2020, with 16 defeats. Paire celebrated accordingly: After all, a limited number of spectators is allowed in Madrid again.
Paire and the Maldives strategy
Perhaps Pairs' surprise victory is due to something else: a rather unusual preparation for a Masters tournament. Because Paire had put in a vacation to the Maldives without further ado and shared it with his fan base via Twitter. The bottle of beer after the snorkel included.
Shortly before the start of the tournament, Paire had received criticism from Dominic Thiem, who referred to his path and the break after the motivation gap after his appearances in Doha and Dubai. "" I think my way was better: I took the time and canceled a few events. And now the motivation is back, "said Thiem . Paire countered that he had to work for his vacation and was happy to see Thiem on the tour again. Everyone could think and act as they wanted.
"The most important thing for me was the head," said Paire after his win. "When I'm mentally ready and focus on tennis, everything is different. When you play in front of people, it changes a lot. So it was like a Davis Cup game for me today."
Paire seems to have done his Maldives break in combination with the fans at the game well. Whether a series will emerge is questionable: In round 2 he will now meet the fifth in the world ranking list Stefanos Tsitsipas, who is in great shape this year, last won in Monte Carlo and Rafael Nadal had a strong fight in Barcelona.
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