I think Benoit deserves a thread.
He is just 20, has won several futures tournaments and is ranked 611th
He is playing RG qualies this week
1st round against Giovanni Lapentti and he won the first set 6/3
Benoit has a torn patellar tendon in his left knee and is apparently doubtful for the Australian Open.
He says the injury is not quite as severe as Tsonga's (who has just had the same thing) but that doctors told him he could be affected for 3 months. He is resting after treatment a few days ago, and will not play the Interclub tournament. He's not yet booked flights to Australia - he is waiting to see how his recovery goes.
Oh noes! He might've played in Auckland like he did last year if he was healthy, and with the tickets I'm getting my chances of seeing him would've been really high . This really sucks . We can pray for a quick recovery! He might make it still. There's some time, though maybe that's just desperate hoping .
OMG that's awesome news. Allez Benoit! Seeing him live would be a dream come true, though it's not totally guaranteed I'd see him live unless he played his first round on the Tuesday or passes R1 and plays R2 on Wednesday. Oh well, fingers crossed!
paire benoit @benoitpaire 15h
Programme de début d'année 2014: Chennai, Auckland, Melbourne, Montpellier, Rotterdam, Acapulco, Indian Wells, Miami.... #sitoutvabien (#if all goes well)
He's not playing the Open de Caen this week-end. Last exams says he can not yet play Not sure he will start the season in Chennai if he can not touch the racket very soon.
It's great he's feeling up to playing an exhibition. It's horrible this knee problem happened but it happened when the season was up, close to the offseason, so if it had to happen, it happened at a good time.
I so can't wait to see him if he comes to Auckland. My tickets should ensure that I see him unless he loses on the first Monday (my tickets are for Tuesday and Wednesday) so fingers crossed :tears:. It would be such a treat to watch him live :tears:.
He has a bye in Chennai first round well i'm not sure the knee is totally ready and Benoit didn't play a lot of tennis during off season so I'm not very optimistic for this tournament.
Some players can play well after a layoff, some can't. Depends on the player I think. Allez Benoit . Chennai is to shake off a tiny bit of rust and to be ready for Auckland where I can hopefully go and watch him .
Some players can play well after a layoff, some can't. Depends on the player I think. Allez Benoit . Chennai is to shake off a tiny bit of rust and to be ready for Auckland where I can hopefully go and watch him .
He has a pretty good draw to get slowly into form. If he's feeling well a SF would be really possible, GGL or Granollers seem like the potential R2/QF opponents, and Benoît has already beat them in the past ( still remember that 6-1 6-0 over Granollers in Rome ).
But like DBR everything he does here is a bonus. I just hope he's fit for the AO, the surface suits him and he doesn't defend points.
He's still nice without I suppose, but the beard is when he becomes hunky Paire . At least for me. Some guys just really suit beards and Benoit is one .
Lost 1R in dubs, but oh well. We'll treat that as a workout/test for the knee . First singles match against GGL will be tough. Best of luck! :cheerleader:. We have to wait till tomorrow .
Good start for Benoit today, winning 6-1, 6-4 against GGL. There were a few lapses in concentration here and there, but also some spectacular winners - especially with the backhand down the line - and some great play from Paire. GGL also helped him at times, but the most important thing is that Benoit looked fit and healthy. His knee was strapped but he ran well and his movement didn't seem to be affected.
You could see how much the win meant to him at the end, and he was better than I expected after so little preparation/ matches. Stan was there watching.
Pretty good match from him I thought. BH and volleys were good! Only thing missing was serve % but he still served his way out of trouble lots. GGL really sucked but that wasn't Benoit's fault I guess.
No words for today, he was dominating Granollers till he got to 5-1 in the 3rd . Such a frustrating loss, he served 3 times for the match :banghead: . The only positiv is that he seems to be moving well and hitting the ball cleanly, specially on the BH.
Benoit lost 2-6, 6-3, 6-7 (5) Only saw parts of this on a terrible one-camera stream that kept cutting out, and I'm still trying to figure out what actually happened. Even in the 3rd set Benoit seemed to be playing ok despite a terrible first serve % - only 17% when he served for it at 5-2.
Basically, he served for it then, got broken, served for it again at 5-4, got broken. Then broke Granollers to go 6-5 up. Then got broken again to go into the tie-break, and then lost the tie break. But I still didn't think he was playing that badly while all this was happening! His first serve deserted him (1st set: 52%, 2nd set: 61%, 3rd set 22%) and Granollers defended very well, but Benoit was hitting the ball well, and moving Granollers around the court a lot. At times he was constructing points well and hitting winners, but at other times he would double fault, or just go for slightly too much on his shots when he tried to hit winners... so of course they went out. And a couple of volleys went awol at crucial times.
I thought he looked pretty tired by the end - especially in the tie-break - so I don't know if fatigue played a part in that 3rd set, but it might explain the big drop in his 1st serve %. Fingers crossed, the knee looked solid though.
Very frustrating loss, but he really hasn't had a lot of winter training or preparation because of the injury. He's got some match practice out of this week at least, but I think he will be kicking himself tonight that he didn't win.
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