No joy, no magic for Benoit Paire in Monte Carlo

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On the plus side, Benoit Paire fought, and it took three hours for Aussie Jordan Thompson to beat him.

On the negative side, the Frenchman still is a long way from recovering his on-court joie de vivre – especially as Monte Carlo is yet another tournament that is being played behind closed doors.

Here’s his press conference after the loss Sunday.

It’s in French, but the gist of it is here:

“As I told you, I just don’t care. You don’t know how it is. This doesn’t bring me anything except a bit more money. But there’s no pleasure in playing. The players who are there say they enjoy playing Monte-Carlo. I respect that a lot. But how sad is this for them?

“Normally this court is one of the most beautiful courts in the world. It seems like we are in a cemetery. Whether you win a point or miss, it’s the same. There’s no atmosphere. It’s the same thing.

“You’re going to say it’s like normal life, but normal life is shit. The only pleasure I have is when I’m home without my mask and I don’t care about the COVID. That’s when I feel good.”

So … that’s it, then.

Paire still has the doubles with Adrian Mannarino.