Banana skins are commonplace in the early stages of a grand slam, but no one expected something quite like this.
French tennis player Elliot Benchetrit caused controversy in the qualifying rounds of the Australian Open after asking a ball girl to peel his banana.
The 21-year-old was handed the energy-boosting snack during a break in play and asked the girl to do the honors, indicating he was unable to perform the task himself due to plasters on his fingers.
However, the chair umpire was left unimpressed with the demand and ordered Benchetrit to do it himself.
The Frenchman reluctantly took the banana back off the slightly bemused ball girl and attempted to peel it with his teeth.
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Criticism
A video of the incident was posted on Twitter by tennis writer Alex Theodoridis and led to widespread condemnation from the online audience.
One user labeled the World No. 231 a “nasty piece of work” while another said, “who does he think he is?”
However, the confrontation didn’t knock the youngster off course as he came from behind to beat Dmitry Popko 4-6 6-2 6-3.
Benchetrit will now face Yuichi Sugita in the first round of the tournament on Tuesday.
CNN reached out to the ATP for a response from Benchetrit but has yet to receive it.
