Benoît Paire does not digest. On Tuesday, the French Tennis Federation (FFT) gave the name of the lucky beneficiaries of wild-cards for the final draw of the next Roland-Garros. And one of the most famous bearded people in French sport does not appear in this list of invitations, either through the "Race France" (tickets awarded to Arthur Fils and Jessika Ponchet) or the "International Race" (Hugo Gaston and Clara Burel).

These ranking systems are separate from the ATP or WTA rankings, and only take into account the results of the current season, accumulating the 18 best results of each athlete. Yes, it is complicated, and the Paire case does not help to clarify the situation.


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— pair benoit (@benoitpaire) May 9, 2023

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In theory, the Avignonnais (116th in the Race) can still hope to overtake Gaston (105th) by May 15, the deadline by which the FFT was initially supposed to allocate its invitations. "I hope that this is a mistake on the part of the FFT and that they will rectify it," Paire told L'Equipe. Obviously not, since the "Fed" explained on Twitter that the date had been advanced to May 8 because "the tournament in Rome will not end until May 21."

Paire and Gaston engaged in two different tournaments

Only, the whimsical Vauclusien (34 years old) is currently competing in the Challenger of Francavilla, Italy, while his Toulouse competitor lines up for the Challenger of Mauthausen, Austria, which both conclude Sunday, May 14. On the eve of the initial deadline, therefore. And as Paire indicates on Elon Musk's social network, in response to the FFT, "the race ranking is updated every day so there will be a new race ranking on May 15"...

"I'm not saying I'm going to win the tournament, but as long as it's not official, I don't understand why they announce this when there is still this week to earn points," he told L'Equipe. The former world 18th explains that he built his calendar and committed to Francavilla, where he is seeded No. 4, "to grab points on the 27 I am behind Hugo".



On Tuesday, Paire qualified in three sets against the modest Italian Giorgio Tabacco after discarding five match balls, and must now face another Transalpine, Alessandro Gianessi. Meanwhile, Gaston, seeded No. 2 in Mauthausen, eliminated compatriot Geoffrey Blancaneaux on Tuesday and is preparing to challenge Australian Dane Sweeny. In the offices of the FFT, we must cross our fingers that the Haut-Garonnais go further in Austria than the Avignonnais in Italy, just to close the controversy ...

  • Tennis
  • Roland-Garros 2023
  • Sport
  • Benoit pair
  • Hugo Gaston
  • Fft