Paire not taking any confidence from competitive losses at UTS Oslo

Benoit Paire won one of his three matches at UTS Oslo and lost the other two in sudden death. Did The Rebel see it as a positive performance?

Benoit Paire UTS London – Tennis Majors / UTS

Ricky Dimon

February 10, 2024

Benoit “The Rebel” Paire accounted himself well at UTS Oslo this week, but it wasn’t enough to earn a place in the semi-finals.

The Rebel compiled a 1-2 record in Group B, beating compatriot Lucas “The French Flair” Pouille but taking losses at the hands of Andrey “Rublo” Rublev and Alex “The Demon” de Minaur.

After going 1-1 on Friday, Paire would have secured a semi-final spot with a win over The Demon on Saturday. The Rebel had every opportunity to make it happen, too. He led two quarters to love and had match points in the fourth quarter before going to sudden death. In the extra frame De Minaur came up with an ace and Paire faulted — you get only one serve in UTS — to end the match.

WHen you lose and you serve into the net on match point, it’s not confidence.
Benoit Pare

Afterward, the Rebel was not in the mood to see the bright side of what was some overall encouraging tennis compared to his recent standards.

“Of course it’s tough, because I knew before if I won this one I would be in the semi-finals,” Paire lamented. “So it’s tough. I’m feeling a little bit bad, but that’s life…. Sudden death, it’s a coin toss; at the end he made an ace and I made a fault. That was the difference.

“To be honest, at the end no,” when asked if he could take some confidence from the performance. “At the end when you finish like this with a match point and you lose and you serve into the net on match point, it’s not confidence. But my level was okay — not my best this week. But I’m going to try to keep working and continue like this and play well next week.”

Cherbourg Challenger next for Paire

Next up for Paire is a Challenger event in Cherbourg, France. He is seeded third and will face fellow Frenchman Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard in the opening round.

The Rebel is struggling down at No 110 in the rankings and therefore is mostly playing at the Challenger level right now. Since Roland-Garros in 2023 he has made only one main-draw appearance on the main tour — a second-round loss in Montpellier to Harold Mayot following a win over Andy Murray.