Benoît Paire

Benoît Paire is an endearing and atypical player, a gifted talent with a raw edge. He is a key figure in French tennis, and his talent and antics have left their mark throughout his professional career, which began in 2007. He has developed a unique popularity among tennis fans, who often identify with him and sometimes describe him as “a club player who has made it in the pros”. And how, since he has won three ATP titles, reached 18th place in the world, represented the French team at the Olympic Games and then in the Davis Cup, and reached the semi-finals at the UTS, where he was one of the precursors on the Mouratoglou Academy courts! He was one of the players attached to the Mouratoglou Academy in 2018-2020, when he worked under the coaching of Morgan Bourbon.

Junior career: a revelation in the deep south

Ranked ‘only’ 2/6 at the age of 17, Benoît Paire began to train seriously. The results were not long in coming: he ‘exploded’ in the spring of 2007 by winning back-to-back ITF junior tournaments in the south of France, in Cap d’Ail and Istres. Not bad considering he had only played seven tournaments in total, including the French Open (3rd round).

That year, he was also a finalist in the French 17-18 Championship (like his older brother Thomas four years earlier) against Guillaume Rufin, at the end of a final in which the match point was never played: Benoit lost by three penalty points when trailing 6-4, 5-2, 30-0, after yet another behavioural excess. The French public discovered the dark side of his genius.

ATP career: 3 titles, 6 finals and many rollercoasters
 

While Benoît Paire’s career has often been hard to follow, like his disconcerting game, the fact remains that it has seen some magnificent peaks. In addition to his six Future titles (the first in 2007) and eight Challenger titles (the first in 2011), the Avignon native has won three titles on the main circuit, all three on clay in the ATP 250: Bastad in 2015 then Marrakech and Lyon in 2019. He has also played in six finals, including one ATP 500 final in Tokyo in 2015, where he was beaten by his friend Stan Wawrinka. He also reached a Masters 1000 semi-final in Rome in 2013, beating his first top 10 player, Juan Martin Del Potro, before losing to Roger Federer.

Benoît Paire has challenged all the greats of his time. In total, he has beaten seven top 10 players, including one in a Grand Slam, in the 1st round of the 2015 US Open, against Kei Nishikori (then an outgoing finalist). His best performance remains a win over Stan Wawrinka, world No. 3, in Madrid in 2017. But perhaps his most prestigious victory came in Miami in 2018 against Novak Djokovic, who was outside the top 10 at the time. He also beat Andy Murray in Montpellier in 2024.
Benoît Paire has played twice in the Davis Cup, selected for the first time (successfully) by Yannick Noah for the 2018 semi-final against Spain.

UTS career: The Rebel at work
 

A spectacular player who lets his emotions show on the court, Benoît Paire was the obvious choice to take part in the UTS circuit created by Patrick Mouratoglou. He took part in the first edition in 2020, even if that tough tournament was marked by a few fumbles linked to increased nervousness due to the heat and his lack of preparation. His nickname, The Rebel, found its full expression there. Committed to the circuit in 2023, he reached the semi-finals in Frankfurt after beating Casper Ruud.

Benoît Paire did not have a “classic” career path. He initially hesitated with football, which he played for a long time. That didn’t stop him from going negative at the age of 17, but he was far from the best. Right up until his best years as a pro, Paire always assumed that he did little training, particularly physical training, which he felt was essential if he was to maintain his passion for tennis.

After his late ‘explosion’ as a junior in 2007, he finally joined the FFT’s National Training Centre… from which he was expelled a few months later because of his excesses. For the same reasons, he was also excluded from the French team at the Rio Olympics in 2016.

In short, the career of this atypical player and character, who claims a taste for fast food, aperitifs and women, has never been a smooth one. But his escapades have also often been a safeguard against his anxieties and his need for an outlet. In the end, his very own recipe worked.