Australian Open: France's Elliot Benchetrit asks ball-girl to peel banana, gets scolded by umpire

Representational image

French tennis player Elliot Benchetrit landed himself in trouble when he asked a ball-girl to peel a banana for him during the final qualifying round of the first major of the season i.e Australian Open on Saturday. 

In a video surfaced on social media, the 21-year-old can be seen taking a break midway through his qualifying clash against Kazakhstani-Russian tennis player Dmitry Popko when a young ball-girl approached him and offered him a banana., the Daily Mail reported. 

Benchetrit then accepted the banana before asking the girl to peel it for him. However, this did not go down well with umpire John Blom, who lashed out at the French tennis player saying that the girl is not his slave before asking him to peel it himself. 

Benchetrit then bit the top off banana first before putting it on his bag and resuming the play.

Following the incident, the French tennis star received backlash on social media. Let's take a look at some of the tweets:

You Can Not Be Serious Elliot Benchetrit ... #AusOpen https://t.co/eeq3D2x44N — TENNISMEDIA (@luciahoff) January 19, 2020

#IsItOk@the last leg
Is it ok for tennis player elliot-benchetrit to ask a ballgirl to peal his banana — Sarah jady (@Sarahjady1) January 21, 2020

I’m glad John Blom told Elliot Benchetrit off for asking a ball girl to peel a banana for him. I don’t think Benchetrit’s actions necessarily sexist, but it reeks of being a spoiled brat on his part. Those ball people are not your servants, Elliot!! #AustralianOpen2020 — GLAZERS & CO OUT!!!!!! (@kickscumoutMUFC) January 21, 2020

One of those days you don’t feel like doing anything..including peeling your own banana.

Elliot Benchetrit CALLED OUT (as he should’ve been) by umpire John Blum at #AusOpen

@AustralianOpen pic.twitter.com/XbYcxSSFD8

— Cracked Racquets ® (@CrackedRacquets) January 19, 2020

Benchetrit eventually went on to clinch a 4-6, 6-2, 6-3 triumph over Popko to set up a first-round clash of the Australian Open against Japanese tennis player Yuichi Sugita.

On Tuesday, Elliot Benchetrit swept aside Sugita 6-2, 6-0, 6-3 triumph in the opening round of the tournament to storm into the second round.