VIDEO. “I’ll wait for you at the end of your match”, Benoît Paire threatened in the middle of a match at the Open Sud de France by punters

Paire a dû faire face à un parieur qui l'a menacé, ce mercredi à l'Arena. Midi Libre – Alexandre Dimou

During his defeat against Harold Mayot (6-1, 6-4), in the round of 16 of the Open Sud de France in Montpellier, Benoît Paire was allegedly threatened by punters in the stands, then expelled from the ;#39;pregnant, Wednesday January 31.

"He just said to me: "I'll wait for you at the end". So when someone tells me that, while I'm playing and he's betting, I don't see the point of having people in the stadium… quot;, explained Benoît Paire after the meeting. 

Interpellé par un spectateur pendant le match, Benoît Paire lui répond : "Quoi, après le match ? Tu te prends pour qui pour me parler comme ça ?"

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"When he threatens me by telling me that he's waiting for me afterwards it's not necessarily very good to have people like that in the stands. It's part of the game, it's anecdotal. We know very well that we are professional athletes, that there are people who bet. When it's on the networks, we manage to ignore it but when it's in the stands and someone threatens us I don't find it terrible."

"What after the match ? who do you think you are to talk to me like that ?"

While Paire was trailing 2-0 from the start following the loss of his serve, the Frenchman then stopped playing before a serve from Harold Mayot, speaking to spectators who told him that they were punters. Before they directly threatened him.

"If it's to tell me that you bet, there's no point in talking to me", he first said, before turning around. "What after the match ? Who do you think you are to talk to me like that ?", he told them. "He threatens me, at one point", he has no right to do that, Paire then said to the chair umpire. < /p>

Physically diminished pair

During this match against Mayot, Paire in any case failed to repeat his performance achieved during his first round victory against Andy Murray, losing 6 -2, 6-4. "He had a great match, he was solid. But it was hard for me, my feet were bloody and my tendons hurt, he informed. 

Invited to compete in the final table of this Open Sud de France, Harold Mayot continues his merry way after a good start to the season marked by a final at the Nouméa Challenger, beaten by Arthur Cazaux, and a quarter-final at home in Metz after going through qualifying. In the quarter-finals, he could find the Montpellier player or Felix Auger-Aliassime.