Benoit Paire makes his case on social media

Following backlash over the tanking accusations he faced in Buenos Aires last week, Benoit Paire has taken to Instagram to state his case.

“For me, playing tennis has become a tasteless profession,” the Frenchman posted in a social media caption. “So yes, it takes me sometime to adapt to this pseudo-ATP circuit but I will make the efforts to try to find just the joy of playing tennis again," the world No. 29 wrote.

In his opening-round match against qualifier and eventual runner-up Francisco Cerundolo, Paire got frustrated after a call went against him early in the second set. Since the clay-court events don’t use Hawke-eye, there was no way to verify it. Convinced the ace from Cerundolo was, in fact, a fault, the Frenchman spit on the mark after a heated exchange with the umpire.

Not able to let it go, he found himself down 5-1 in third. Serving to stay in the match, Paire visibly tanked the final game, deliberately smacking two double-faults, taping his last serve well wide. He even hit his last second serve while a ball boy was still on court retrieving the ball from his missed first serve.