AUSTRALIAN OPEN qualifier Elliot Benchetrit has called for some perspective in the furious reaction to a banana peel incident engulfing the Frenchman.
During his final qualification victory over Dmitry Popko on the weekend, Benchetrit, 21, was caught asking a ball girl to peel a banana for him.
The girl appeared to be a bit surprised by the request and umpire John Blom stepped in to deny him the service.
Viewers quickly jumped on the World No231’s back,condemning him as a “nasty piece of work” and a “privileged creep”.
And the tennis player has revealed that the umpire made a scathing slavery remark before he was handed the banana to peel himself.
But Benchetrit has explained that he had applied cream to his hands ahead of the match’s climax, making opening the banana difficult.
And he also claims that a ball girl had already helped him with a piece of fruit earlier in the game.
He told reporters: “At 6-5 in the final set, during the changeover, I asked the ball girl to peel the banana for me as I had put some cream on my hands in order not to sweat.
“She had done it once before at the beginning of the match.
“But the second time the chair umpire stepped in and told me that the ball girl was not my slave and I had to peel the banana myself.
“I could not believe that the umpire said that and I find incredible how this situation got out of control on social media without people knowing what really happened on court.”
After the ball girl left the scene, Benchetrit was seen opening the banana by biting it – rather than using the hands he says had cream on.
But his Australian Open did not last too much longer anyway as Japan’s Yuichi Sugita breezed through their first-round meeting in straight sets on Tuesday.
The Suns coverage of the Australian Open is brought to you in partnership with Betway.
