Paire blasts ATP tour as ‘sad, boring, ridiculous’

PARIS: French tennis player Benoit Paire called the ATP tour “sad, boring and ridiculous” and said he was struggling for motivation with tournaments worldwide largely staged without fans because of Covid-19 restrictions.

Paire, the world number 29, has won just one of seven matches this season and suffered a heavy loss to Danish teenager Holger Vitus Nodskov Rune in his opening round in Santiago, Chile this week.

He crashed out of the Argentina Open in disgrace last week after he was docked a point for spitting, and then ‘tanked’ his final service game in a stormy second round clash against local player Francisco Cerundolo.

“I know you’re going to say ‘You don’t realise how lucky you are...’ but playing in empty stadiums without any atmosphere is not why I play tennis,” the 31-year-old Paire wrote on Instagram.