Paire puts down the bottle and toasts a tennis revival

Tennis slacker Benoit Paire says he has given up his longtime habits of drinking and partying in order to lift his sagging tennis.

The 33-year-old Frenchman who has admitted he’s mainly in the game for the money, stands a distant 177th after a career high of 18th back in the day.

Paire said his downward slide kicked off during the COVID pandemic; after two years of lethargy, it’s time for a change.

“I’ve thrown two years of my sports career overboard,” he told the Ouest-france website at this week’s Brest Challenger. “To recover them, I need to change many things and add many wins like this one.” (into the second round).

“I’ve decided to be more professional, not to go out to night parties and stop drinking alcohol.

I want to do my best and that sometimes makes me anxious, because I know that right now it is impossible.”

Paire added: “For two years I haven’t had such a good attitude on a tennis court. I know I still have a lot to improve in terms of confidence and level of play.

“But now I think I can get back to my best level.

“I used to come to tournaments to win money and see what would happen, but now I see each event as a little step up.

“I feel that now is the time. I know that I have been trying before, but not with this conviction because I was not mentally ready to compete.”