Elliot Benchetrit (born 2 October 1998) is a Moroccan

tennis Tennis is a racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent ( singles) or between two teams of two players each ( doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket that is strung with cord to strike a hollow rubber ball ...

player who formerly represented France. Since 1 January 2021 Benchetrit started to represent

Morocco Morocco (),, ) officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is the westernmost country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It overlooks the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and has land borders with Algeria to ...

. His highest singles ranking was No. 198 on 10 February 2020, and his highest doubles ranking was No. 198 on 10 June 2019. He has won three singles titles on the

ITF Men's Circuit The ITF World Tennis Tour (formerly known as the ''ITF Men's World Tennis Tour'', and previously ''ITF Men's Circuit'') is a series of professional tennis tournaments held around the world that are organized by the International Tennis Federation. ...

, and two doubles titles, as well as another doubles title on the

ATP Challenger Tour The ATP Challenger Tour, known until the end of 2008 as the ATP Challenger Series, is a series of international men's professional tennis tournaments. The Challenger Tour events are the second-highest tier of tennis competition, behind the ATP T ...

Tennis career

He won his first ITF singles tournament in 2017 in

Tunisia ) , image_map = Tunisia location (orthographic projection).svg , map_caption = Location of Tunisia in northern Africa , image_map2 = , capital = Tunis , largest_city = capital , ...

, and his first ITF doubles tournament the same year in

, with

Maxime Hamou Maxime Hamou (born 8 June 1995) is a French tennis player. Hamou has a career-high ATP singles ranking of No. 211, achieved in July 2015 and a career-high ATP doubles ranking of No. 744, achieved in July 2016. Hamou achieved a career-high ITF j ...

. Benchetrit made his

Grand Slam Grand Slam most often refers to: * Grand Slam (tennis), one player or pair winning all four major annual tournaments, or the tournaments themselves Grand Slam or Grand slam may also refer to: Games and sports * Grand slam, winning category te ...

main-draw debut at the

2018 French Open The 2018 French Open was a Grand Slam (tennis), major tennis tournament played on outdoor clay courts. It took place at the Stade Roland Garros in Paris, France, from 27 May to 10 June and consisted of events for players in singles, doubles and m ...

, after receiving a

wildcard Wild card most commonly refers to: * Wild card (cards), a playing card that substitutes for any other card in card games * Wild card (sports), a tournament or playoff place awarded to an individual or team that has not qualified through normal pla ...

to the singles main draw. He was defeated by fellow Frenchman

Gaël Monfils Gaël Sébastien Monfils (; born 1 September 1986) is a French professional tennis player. He has been ATP rankings, ranked as high as world No. 6 in singles by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP), which he achieved in November 2016. H ...

in four sets in the first round. The following year at the

2019 French Open The 2019 French Open was a Grand Slam (tennis), major tennis tournament played on outdoor clay courts. It was held at the Stade Roland Garros in Paris, France, from 26 May to 9 June, comprising singles, doubles and mixed doubles play. Junior and ...

he also received wildcards in both singles and doubles and won his first round matches in both events.

Banana incident at the 2020 Australian Open

On 19 January 2020, while competing in the qualifiers for the 2020 Australian Open, 21-year-old Benchetrit asked a teenage ball girl to get him a banana. Upon being handed the banana, Benchetrit told the ball girl “I can't do it,” indicating that he himself was unable to peel the banana due to his fingers being "heavily taped" due to blisters (or "heavily bandaged" as some outlets reported), and him having put cream on his hands in order not to sweat, and requested that she peel it for him. The chair

umpire An umpire is an official in a variety of sports and competition, responsible for enforcing the rules of the sport, including sportsmanship decisions such as ejection. The term derives from the Old French nonper, ''non'', "not" and ''per'', ...

intervened, ordering Benchetrit to peel the banana himself, and, according to Benchetrit, telling him that the ball girl "was not his slave." Benchetrit went on to defeat his opponent and qualify for the main tournament, where he lost in the first round. The incident triggered debate on

social media Social media are interactive media technologies that facilitate the creation and sharing of information, ideas, interests, and other forms of expression through virtual communities and networks. While challenges to the definition of ''social medi ...

and within the ranks of tennis about the role of ball girls and ball boys. Benchetrit later expressed his disbelief at the umpire's statement to him, and the social media response "without people knowing what really happened".

Personal life

He was born in

Nice Nice ( , ; Niçard: , classical norm, or , nonstandard, ; it, Nizza ; lij, Nissa; grc, Νίκαια; la, Nicaea) is the prefecture of the Alpes-Maritimes department in France. The Nice agglomeration extends far beyond the administrative c ...

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

, and lives in

. Benchetrit is of Moroccan descent through his father.

ITF Circuit finals

Singles: 7 (5–2)

Doubles: 5 (3–2)

{, , - valign=top , {, class=wikitable , - !Legend , - style="background:moccasin;" , ATP Challenger (1–1) , - style="background:#cffcff;" , ITF Futures (2–1) {, class="sortable wikitable" , - !Outcome !No. !Date !Tournament !Surface !Partner !Opponents !Score , - style="background:#ffcff;" , style="background:#98fb98;", Winner , 1. , 5 August 2017 ,

Casablanca Casablanca, also known in Arabic as Dar al-Bayda ( ar, الدَّار الْبَيْضَاء, al-Dār al-Bayḍāʾ, ; ber, ⴹⴹⴰⵕⵍⴱⵉⴹⴰ, ḍḍaṛlbiḍa, : "White House") is the largest city in Morocco and the country's econom ...

, Morocco F3 , Clay ,

Nick Chappell Nick Chappell (born September 19, 1992) is a Canadian-born American tennis player. Chappell has a career high ATP singles ranking of 329 achieved on November 8, 2021. He also has a career high ATP doubles ranking of 416 achieved on June 27, 20 ...

Skander Mansouri Skander Mansouri (born 23 July 1995) is a Tunisian tennis player. Mansouri has a career high ATP singles ranking of world No. 238 achieved on 12 December 2022. He also has a career high ATP doubles ranking of world No. 187 achieved on 17 July ...

, 7–6^(7–4), 6–7^(2–7), 0–5, - style="background:#ffcff;" , style="background:#98fb98;", Winner , 2. , 10 September 2017 , Hammamet, Tunisia F25 , Clay ,

Rudolf Molleker Rudolf Molleker (born 26 October 2000) is a German tennis player. Molleker achieved a career high ATP singles ranking of World No. 146 on 29 July 2019 and a doubles ranking of World No. 376 on 21 March 2022. Personal information He was born ...

Aziz Dougaz Mohamed Aziz Dougaz ( ar, محمد عزيز دوقاز; born 26 March 1997) is a Tunisian tennis player. Dougaz has a career high ATP singles ranking of 236 achieved on 17 April 2023. He also has a career high ATP doubles ranking of 261 achie ...

Anis Ghorbel Anis Ghorbel ( ar, أنيس غربال ; born 24 April 1989) is a Tunisian tennis player. Ghorbel has a career high ATP singles ranking of 479 achieved on 19 September 2016. He also has a career high ATP doubles ranking of 264, achieved on 23 ...

, 7–5, 6–3 , - style="background:#ffcff;" , style="background:#ffa07a;", Runner-up , 1. , 17 September 2017 , Hammamet, Tunisia F26 , Clay ,

Louis Wessels Louis Wessels (german: Weßels; born 27 August 1998) is a German tennis player. Tennis career On the junior tour, Wessels has a career high ITF junior ranking of 17 achieved in May 2016. Wessels has reached the doubles semifinals at three of ...

, Filippo Baldi
Mirko Cutuli , 4–6, 4–6 , - style="background:moccasin;" , style="background:#98fb98;", Winner , 3. , 17 June 2018 ,

Lyon Lyon,, ; Occitan: ''Lion'', hist. ''Lionés'' also spelled in English as Lyons, is the third-largest city and second-largest metropolitan area of France. It is located at the confluence of the rivers Rhône and Saône, to the northwest of t ...

, France , Clay ,

Geoffrey Blancaneaux Geoffrey Blancaneaux (born 8 August 1998) is a French tennis player. He competes mainly on the ITF Men's Circuit and ATP Challenger Tour. Blancaneaux has a career-high ATP singles ranking of World No. 134 achieved on 14 November 2022 and a doubl ...

Hsieh Cheng-peng Hsieh Cheng-peng (; born 22 September 1991) is an inactive tennis player from Taiwan. Alongside Yang Tsung-hua he won the 2008 Wimbledon Championships – Boys' doubles title. He won the 2009 US Open – Boys' doubles with Márton Fuc ...

Luca Margaroli Luca Margaroli (born 15 February 1992) is a Swiss tennis player. Margaroli has a career high ATP singles ranking of 692, achieved on 23 October 2017. He also has a career high ATP doubles ranking of 128 achieved on 6 June 2019. Margaroli made ...

, 6–3, 4–6, 0–7, - , - style="background:moccasin;" , style="background:#ffa07a;", Runner-up , 2. , 22 August 2020 ,

Todi Todi () is a town and ''comune'' (municipality) of the province of Perugia (region of Umbria) in central Italy. It is perched on a tall two-crested hill overlooking the east bank of the river Tiber, commanding distant views in every direction. I ...

, Italy , Clay ,

Hugo Gaston Hugo Gaston (; born 26 September 2000) is a French tennis player. His career high ATP ranking in singles is world No. 58, which he achieved on 11 July 2022, and in doubles is world No. 220, which he achieved on 16 May 2022. He won the 2018 Aust ...

Ariel Behar Ariel Behar (; born November 12, 1989 in Montevideo) is a Uruguayan professional tennis player. He specializes in men's doubles and has won three ATP titles with Ecuadorian partner Gonzalo Escobar. His career-high doubles ranking is World No. 3 ...

Andrey Golubev Andrey Golubev ( rus, Андре́й Алекса́ндрович Го́лубев; born July 22, 1987) is a Kazakh professional tennis player. His career-high singles ranking is world No. 33, achieved on 4 October 2010 and his doubles ranking i ...

, 4–6, 2–6

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Benchetrit, Elliot 1998 births Living people Sportspeople from Nice French male tennis players Moroccan male tennis players Competitors at the 2022 Mediterranean Games Mediterranean Games bronze medalists for Morocco Mediterranean Games medalists in tennis French sportspeople of Moroccan descent Bananas in popular culture