A 21-year-old Frenchman slipped his way into the umpire’s bad books at the Australian Open on Saturday after he cheekily asked a ball girl to peel a banana for him.
Elliot Benchetrit was midway through his final qualifying match against Dmitry Popko when he was offered the piece of fruit from one of the tournament’s ball girls.
While he accepted the banana, rather than peel it himself, Benchetrit instructed the ball girl to do it for him.
The girl, stunned, turned to umpire John Blom, who quickly intervened and told the Frenchman to peel it himself.
Benchetrit and Blom then exchanged further words, though it was unclear what was said, before Benchetrit appeared to tell Blom to “stop” numerous times, before returning to the court.
You can watch the bizarre moment here:
The footage was also shared on Twitter by Alex Theodoridis, the founder of Tennisportalen, the organization which uploaded the footage to YouTube.
“So this is the moment where Elliot Benchetrit asks the ballkid to peel his banana,” Theodoridis posted alongside the video. “I’m glad the umpire (John Blom) stepped in and told him off.”
An account which appears to be owned by Benchetrit then hit back at Theodoridis.
“That video is really useless and it’s not even showing a little part of what happened!” he said. “Poor guys, social media take your stupidity to another level!”
Theodoridis simply replied: “I was there. It shows exactly what happened mate.”
The Australian Open did not immediately reply to Business Insider’s request for comment.
Benchetrit went on to win the match 4-6 6-2 6-3, ensuring his progression to the first round of the tournament, where he will face Japan’s Yuichi Sugita.