Don’t miss the new cult Instagram live with Benoit Paire

“Honestly, I’m bored watching tennis right now. There are a lot of players, I don’t enjoy watching them. Especially without spectators, it’s really sad.” 

“When I was a kid, I never told myself I want to be number one or I want to be in the top 100. I played tennis because I liked it, but I also played soccer and I liked soccer as much, or even more. When I was a kid I thought it was cool but I didn’t see tennis as my future job.”

“At each step I thought to myself: how can I be at this level? I’ve never seen myself as a top 100 player. You know that I stopped playing tennis for a while, I was in an agricultural high school, Tennis was far away from my thoughts because I was getting angry because I no longer had any help from the Federation.” 

“I entered into the top 100, without ever having told myself that my goal is to make a living out of tennis, to do well, to win a Grand Slam. Never. I was already the happiest person in the world when I entered the top 100, it was incredible.”

“I decided to create my own clothing brand. It’s a work in progress. A tennis brand, streetwear, sportswear. Nothing is finalized but it’s something I enjoy doing and working on. Often I am offered t-shirts with “La chatte” or Santé Marion. I will try to create something different, I would like to experiment with my outfits. It will make me feel good. I’m on it. It will be done within the year. I don’t have the name yet. The logo will be a cocktail glass.”

Will you invite Marion to the opening night?

“Yes of course! Marion I love her, I don’t always agree about everything with her but Marion is a girl I love.”

Do you remember the preparation of the Davis Cup match against Spain, with Yannick Noah asking us to practice underarm serve before playing Nadal? 

“I was serious, I was listening and then Yannick said: it’s okay, I have the solution. We’re going to play Nadal, he stands far from his baseline, we’re going to do underarm serve.”