Australian Open 2020: Tennis player who told ball girl to peel his banana told off by umpire
Umpire John Blom was not impressed when World No 229 Elliot Benchetrit instructed an Australian Open ball girl to peel his banana for him
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.A tennis player received a telling-off from an umpire at the Australian Open for asking a ball girl to peel a banana for him.
World No 229 Elliot Benchetrit was sat courtside in between sets during the Grand Slam qualifier when he was presented with a banana by one of the tournament’s ball girls.
Rather than peel it himself he instructed the ball girl to do it for him – much to the disgust of chair umpire John Blom.
The umpire stepped in – telling the ball girl to return the banana to Benchetrit for the Frenchman to peel himself.
Benchetrit could then be seen attempting to peel the fruit with his teeth, much to the confusion of all those watching on.
Not that banana-gate seemed to distract Benchetrit from the task at hand. He went on to win his final qualifier against Dmitry Popko 4-6, 6-2, 6-3 and will now play Japan’s Yūichi Sugita in the first round.
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments