Benoit Paire produced an astonishing meltdown at the Argentina Open on Thursday, spitting on the court in protest before tanking to defeat.The Frenchman started his match well against world number 137 Francisco Cerundolo, with him taking the first set relatively comfortable.
However, a disputed line-call early in the second set appeared to completely destabilise him, particularly after the chair umpire refused to overturn it.
With no Hawk Eye live at the event, Paire showed the umpire the mark on the court but was unable to persuade him it clearly showed the ball was out.
As the frustration got the better of him, Paire spat on the mark and continued playing.
Benoit Paire complains about a mark, spits on it, gets a code violation, then proceeds to take all the anger out on an overhead and continues to complain as he runs to the chair 😂 #abnamrowttpic.twitter.com/tcQpj502uB
After initially rallying, though, he quickly unravelled again, and before long found himself 1-5 down in a deciding set.
By that time, he was no longer interested in competing, and he threw away the match by serving three deliberate double faults inn a row.
