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Benoit Paire is a well-known figure on the tennis scene.
Throughout his career, the Frenchman had the opportunity to face many top names who dominated the sport at different moments.
However, the match that particularly remained in his memory was the one against Roger Federer. Tennis fans also remember moments like these fondly.
In that legendary match in Halle in 2018, both tennis players actually missed two match points each in a dramatic thriller that lasted two hours. Roger Federer eventually won 6-3, 3-6, 7-6 (9-7).
Here's the exact order of the incredible drama from the third set.
At 6-5 in games for Federer, the Swiss reached a 15-40 lead on Paire's serve, giving him his first two match points. Benoit Paire then saved himself with great and unreturnable serves, levelled the score at 6-6 and took the set to a decisive tie-break.
In a dramatic tie-break, the Frenchman played fantastically and got his two chances for the biggest victory of his life. At 6-5 for Paire, he hit a great backhand winner, but Federer, under tremendous pressure, played a bold forehand attack that barely caught the line.
At 7-6 for Paire, the Frenchman was serving for the match. Federer sent an extremely deep return to the feet of the Frenchman, who could not control the return and sent the ball out.
After saving those two match points, Federer won two more points in a row. He used his third match point at 8-7 when Paire sent a forehand long out, with which the Swiss celebrated one of his most dramatic victories on grass.
After the match at the net, Federer sportingly admitted to Paire: "You deserved to win."
Benoit Paire reflects on his match against Federer
Several years later, the 37-year-old reflected on the legendary match, and it seems he still carries a heavy feeling of regret after everything that happened. The Frenchman points out that Roger Federer told him after the match that Paire deserved to win, but he hoped that Roger might have let him win this match.
Paire admits that in the moments when he was close to victory, he started shaking, describing how dramatic those moments truly were.
“I had two match points, it was terrible. Federer was my idol since I was a kid, so I would have loved to beat him at least once. And what was terrible was that at the end of the match he shook my hand and said: ‘Ah, you deserved to win.’ I wanted to tell him: ‘Then let me win, because honestly, you have won so many matches. One less doesn’t matter.’
I was shaking during those match points because it is always great in a career to have moments like that against players like him. And I couldn’t handle it. Then he got a little lucky on the match points. He dealt with them better than I did. But for me, those are beautiful memories.” he said, as translated.
Having the opportunity to face a player who achieved so much means that every difficult moment requires deep concentration and focus, especially when you really want to achieve triumph.
Unfortunately for Benoit Paire, he was not able to overcome such an obstacle, but he still feels a sense of pride because he was so close to achieving his goal.
What happened after?
After that dramatic match with Federer, Benoit Paire lived the best period of his career in 2019, winning two ATP titles, but after the coronavirus pandemic, he experienced a drastic drop in form and a mental breakdown on the court.
During 2019, he ended a multi-year drought and won the tournament in Marrakesh, defeating Pablo Andujar, and the tournament in Lyon, where he defeated Felix Auger-Aliassime. In the same year, he achieved the best results of his career at Grand Slam tournaments, reaching the fourth round, i.e. the round of 16, at Roland Garros and Wimbledon.
Thanks to those great results, he stabilized in the world top and returned close to his best ranking, which was 18th place on the ATP list.
Since 2020, Paire has been completely crushed by the lack of fans due to the coronavirus pandemic. He himself admitted that tennis became "a job he hates" under the restrictions, which led to a series of bizarre situations. In some tournaments, he openly dropped points without effort, declaring that he was only coming to collect his first-round participation check and go to the beach.
Due to frequent spitting on the court, swearing, arguments with umpires and breaking rackets, the French Tennis Federation suspended him and banned him from the Olympic Games in Tokyo.
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