Benoit Paire competed at the 2023 Ultimate Tennis Showdown (UTS) Grand Final in London, and he really enjoyed himself at the event.
The Frenchman is a real showman, and with so many players ranked high on the ATP Tour taking part at the 2023 UTS Grand Final, it wasn't really probable that he would make it out of the round robin stage.
Paire was in the group with Andrey Rublev, Casper Ruud, and Diego Schwartzman. First, Rublev booked his semifinal spot on Friday, before Ruud bested Schwartzman on Saturday to advance.
The Frenchman, on the other hand, struggled against all of the players, but he came very close to winning his first match at the event, when he lost to Schwartzman only in the "Sudden Death", losing 17-11, 13-14, 10-21, 17-16, 4-5.
After that match, Paire lost to Ruud 12-17, 9-18, and 10-16, and later in his match against Rublev, it was clear that he had no chance to make it from the round-robin stage, as Ruud and Schwartzman played the match that decided that before the two stepped onto the court.
The Russian eventually won all three round-robin matches that he played, beating Paire 26-10, 16-13, 19-12, as the Frenchman recorded three losses.
But it was in his match against "The Ice Man" Ruud when he took care of one of the moments of the tournament. Between two points, the French player took a sip of a beer from one of the spectators, but the Norwegian saw it and tried to take advantage of that.
Ruud served while Paire was drinking, but the Frenchman still managed to chase the ball and return it to the other side of the net. But the Norwegian approached the net and played a short volley, but Paire chased down also that, playing a beautiful backhand winner.
0 Comments