Elliot Benchetrit: Umpire tells tennis player off for asking ball girl to peel banana
Tennis legend Martina Navratilova called 21-year-old Elliot Benchetrit "entitled" after a video of the incident was shared.
Monday 20 January 2020 23:10, UK
A tennis player was left red-faced after an umpire told him off for asking a ball girl to peel a banana for him.
World number 231 Elliot Benchetrit was taking a break on Saturday during his Australian Open qualifying match against Dmitry Popko when he was handed a banana by a ball girl.
The 21-year-old asked the girl to peel the banana, prompting a confused look from the girl who looked up at umpire John Blom - who then told the French player off.
She handed the piece of fruit back to the player as he looked at her, then the banana, in disbelief before he used his teeth to bite the top of the banana off then peeled it.
Benchetrit could then be seen arguing with the umpire and became visibly annoyed as he got up to continue the match.
He later blamed social media, saying the video being shared was only 10-seconds long so did not show the whole situation.
However, a longer video showed his continued annoyance.
Tennis legend Martina Navratilova retweeted the video with the caption: "What's next grapes? #entitlement. John did the right thing, that's for sure."
Benchetrit's fruity incident, branded "Banana Gate" online, did not appear to faze the player as he went on to win the match, qualifying for the first round of the Australian Open.
He has been drawn against Japan's Yuichi Sugita, ranked 48th in the world.
The Open got underway on Monday to an impressive start, with 15-year-old beating her idol Venus Williams, for a second time.