Benoit Paire battled Cameron Norrie for over three hours at Roland Garros with the Brit emerging victorious in the end.
The match went to five sets with Norrie turning around a deficit in the 5th set into a win. Paire played a really strong match, probably his best in months and it was a very good sign for the player after his troubles earlier this year.
The French crowd was behind him, and the atmosphere was amazing but ultimately Paire wasn't able to hold the level high until the end to get away with the win. After the match, he blasted the event for using tennis balls with 'rubbish' quality while maintaining that it wasn't the reason that he lost the match. It did impact the way he wanted to play.
You play with balls that get bigger after two seconds. The new balls don’t even last a game. The balls are rubbish. That’s not the reason why I didn’t win (against Norrie) but you can’t play tennis, though, with that type of ball. You can’t attack. You can’t move ahead. It’s impossible to play an ace.
Paire is a player who likes to attack and he certainly likes to hit an ace as well. Much of his game revolves around his serve and ability to produce winners from various parts of the court. He further talked about how the rallies drag out with these balls becoming more about who can last longer in a rally than anything else.
It’s another style of tennis, which is different. It requires physical qualities. It’s a question of who can keep the ball in the court for the longest. You have to hit every ball really hard because it’s not moving. It’s terrible. It’s Roland Garros, one of the greatest tournaments in the world, and we’re playing with these silly balls.
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