A French tennis player has come under fire for asking a ball girl to peel his banana for him.
Elliott Benchetrit, 21, was eating a snack during a break at the Australian Open on Sunday, when a ball girl handed him a banana. Benchetrit asked the girl to peel the banana for him. Benchetrit then appears to react with surprise after the girl looks back at the umpire, hands him the banana, and walks away.
Benchetrit opened the banana himself with his teeth.
Reporter Alex Theodoridis said that the umpire, John Blom, “stepped in” and “told” Benchetrit off.
For Benchetrit’s part, he has an explanation for what happened and he thinks it’s “incredible” how the situation has been blown out of proportion.
Benchetrit told CNN:
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.
Benchetrit had a good performance in the tournament, winning three qualifying matches before losing on Tuesday.
Follow Dylan Gwinn on Twitter @themightygwinn