Benoit Paire begins training at Rafael Nadal’s academy in Mallorca in hopes of renewed success

Benoit Paire has surprised tennis fans by revealing that he started training at Rafael Nadal’s academy in Mallorca.

The Frenchman took to social media to share the news with his followers.

“Physical and tennis recovery; Let's go; A nice first day,” he tweeted.

Paire has had a sloppy 2022 season, with just four wins and 22 losses. The Frenchman, who was previously ranked as high as World No. 18, now sees himself at No. 173.

The mercurial 33-year-old, who is known for his antics on the court, will now seemingly look to take a more serious approach to his tennis career, training around the completely contrasting personality of Rafael Nadal.

It is worth noting that, since its inauguration in 2016, the Spaniard's academy has witnessed ground-breaking success. This year, especially, players who have trained in Mallorca have produced exemplary results. Canadian Felix Auger-Aliassime, who trained at the academy and now has Nadal’s uncle Toni on his coaching team, won his first ATP title in Rotterdam in February after eight failed finals attempts and also reached a career-high of World No. 8.

Casper Ruud, who has also trained there, reached a career-high of World No. 2, winning three titles and reaching the finals of the French Open and the US Open. Notably, on the juniors circuit, academy students Martin Landaluce and Alex Eala were crowned the 2022 US Open boys’ and girls’ singles champions respectively.

With such a rich resume, Frenchman Paire will now hope to turn the fortunes in 2023 with expertise from Rafael Nadal and the academy.

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Benoit Paire’s decision to train at Rafael Nadal’s academy comes after painful revelations about his mental health

Benoit Paire's decision to join Rafael Nadal's academy come after mental health revelations.

Benoit Paire, who previously trained at famous tennis coach Patrick Mouratoglou's academy, recently opened up about his mental health struggles.

“My head, I don’t know when it will get better. It’s an injury that can be very long and I hope it will be as short as possible; I realized that I needed help and that I needed to be better on the court. I’m seeing shrinks, a lot of people to try to understand what’s happening to me. On my own, I couldn’t cope. I see a hypnotist, a psychologist. I have a mental trainer to discuss a lot of things to try to correct this,” Paire had confessed.

The former World No. 18 had also previously announced that he would be taking an indefinite break from tennis after his opening-round defeat to Italian Lorenzo Sonego at the Stuttgart Open in June.

“Tennis break for an indefinite period,” he had said.

He was last seen in action at the ATP Challenger in Lisbon in late September, where he lost in the quarterfinals. Paire confessed that, for the time being, he felt more comfortable playing outside of France.

"Playing at home is a bit difficult for me at the moment. People expect a lot from me. I was world number 18, so when I come back they expect me to win every time. Mentally, I wasn't ready to play my best tennis, so I thought it would be better to be somewhere quieter in Portugal, to enjoy my tennis," he said.