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Benoit Paire continued his dismal run of form in 2022, losing in the first round of the Estoril Open to Kwon Soon-woo. The Frenchman succumbed to a 6-4, 7-5 defeat, marking his fourth straight loss of the season.
The World No. 60 had the opportunity to seal the second set four times, but Kwon held firm and eventually won the match in straight sets. During the match, Paire could only convert one of 13 break points, while the South Korean converted three of 11.
The 32-year-old was booed by fans on his way out of the court. While most players would have left without paying too much attention, the former World No. 18 retaliated by pulling down his shorts in a crude gesture.
The blatant show of disrespect from Benoit Paire has copped criticism from fans on social media, with many slamming the Frenchman for the way he handled the issue.
The loss was Paire's 12th of the season, against only two wins so far. Both victories came at the Australian Open, where he defeated Thiago Monteiro and Grigor Dimitrov before falling to Stefanos Tsitsipas.
The 32-year-old slumped first-round defeats in 10 events this season -- Melbourne, Adelaide, Cordoba, Buenos Aires, Rio, Acapulco, Indian Wells, Miami, Monte-Carlo and Barcelona.
His only other win this year came in the Phoenix Challenger, where the former World No. 18 bested Emilio Nava but could not prevail against World No. 121 Radu Albot.
Benoit Paire took to Instagram following the loss to send a message to his supporters, revealing that he was very disappointed with the "spiral" he was on. Paire further added that he was going to focus on how to snap out of his funk, and promised to keep fighting as he has always done.
"I'm looking for solutions every day to change this spiral, I make the effort and I progress despite the defeats.. I'm just going to think about what's next and hang on again and again like I've been doing for a while," Paire wrote on Instagram.
Benoit Paire receives abuse on social media following Estoril Open loss
Not content with booing him on the court, fans also took to social media to harass Benoit Paire. The Frenchman shared a few of the abusive messages he received, which included people telling him to kill himself.
It is suspected that most of these attacks came from frustrated fans who had bet on Paire to win and now stood to lose a considerable sum of money following his defeat.
The 32-year-old included only a short message, balking at how abnormal it was to receive such messages from strangers on social media.
"Is this normal for you?" Benoit Paire tweeted.
On the tennis front, it remains to be seen whether Paire will play at the upcoming Madrid Masters. The former World No. 18 is No. 3 on the Alternates list, meaning that unless three other players withdraw before the event kicks off on 1 May, he will have to go through the qualifying rounds.
Meanwhile, Kwon Soon-woo will take on either sixth seed Albert Ramos-Vinolas or Jordan Thompson in the second round in Estoril.
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