Benoit Paire opens up about battle with depression

The story of Benoit Paire is a very complicated one with the French player getting a lot of hate due to a perceived disrespect for tennis.

He's made far more headlines in the past years with his shocking behaviour on the court than good tennis and it's a shame because he's a really talented tennis player who enjoys playing for the crowd. It's saddening to see a player whose main focus in tennis has been to be loved by the crowd turn into someone who gets booed the moment he steps onto the court.

Many suspected there were some other things going on making it hard for him to focus on tennis the way he wants to. According to him, he still loves the game but in a recent interview, he finally confirmed he's been dealing with depression.

“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 realised 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”.

He continued:

“It’s difficult because I don’t necessarily feel happy in my life, because tennis is complicated. What I need to do is to find the right balance, to celebrate, but also to be serious and to prepare well for tournaments. That’s what I’m having a bit of trouble doing at the moment. That’s why I’m going to start from scratch. It’s been two days since I last drank alcohol (smile), I’m in the middle of a cure. I have a little bit of stress coming onto a court, when that’s what I enjoyed when I was good before."

And more:

"Even without practising a lot, I was able to come out with big matches because I liked that, the adrenaline. I used to like the stressful moments and now it’s become more and more complicated. As soon as I’m stressed, I get anxious and panic."