Tennis: pair will create its clothing brand with a cocktail glass logo

Benoît Paire displayed a very sober style of clothing on Monday during his entry into the running at the Australian Open, concluded by a defeat against the Belarusian Egor Gerasimov (6-2, 2-6, 7-6, 7-5). He wore a plain, logoless T-shirt that signaled the end of his association with Lacoste, his former sponsor.

"There is the covid so there are some decreasing budgets, he explained at the end of the meeting. I did not accept that it goes down because they signed contracts quite expensive with other people so I knew there was money. I don't blame Lacoste, it's their choice. I wouldn't have done the same because it concerns me."

So he sported a minimalist style. "I had no problem finding t-shirts, it was like training, it doesn't change, he added. It's a t-shirt that I ordered, I I took all the colors. I can tear it up, I don't care." A transitional situation while waiting to develop a more ambitious project: that of creating your own brand.

He had recently announced his "project" to Nicolas Mahut in a live Instagram. And he wants to do it right. "I refused a few proposals because I want to do something new, he explains. If I make my mark, I could do things that I like, which is not the case when we are with certain brands. Because we are forced to play with certain collections."

If the outlines are still blurred, he already has an idea of ​​the logo. "It will be a glass of cocktail, he smiles. I want to do something offbeat, which I like next to what everyone does classic. I want to do something very classy, ​​simple stuff not like right now with stuff that's terrible."

Not to make money

He promises that the process is not to "make money", just to "have fun". The cocktail logo is a reference to his taste for alcoholic mixtures that he often allows himself after failures. He should still allow himself a gap this year in Melbourne. "I'm going to go back, do my double, he explains before continuing. The only thing that's good is that we can go out and have a drink here."

In his live Instagram with Mahut, Paire confided that he rejected several ideas for his new collection. "Often, I am offered T-shirts with 'the cat' or "health Marion", with a lot of stuff, he confided. Nothing is finalized yet. That's why I don't play with it yet. In the year, it will be done, I do not have the name yet.

These ideas refer to his legendary expressions on the pitch, such as when he rails against an opponent's success. There is also a lot of talk about Marion Bartoli, with whom he often hung on on social networks. When the 2013 Wimbledon winner had criticized her lifestyle, he had responded with a video from his vacation spot in Mykonos where he was enjoying... a cocktail before throwing her: "Cheers Marion!"

Bartoli for the inauguration

And Paire will not forget to send an invitation card to the former French number 1 for the inauguration of its new brand. "Of course I'll invite Marion, he concludes. She'll be the first to put on my polo shirt and we'll go have a drink together."

Last April, Paire moderated his taste for the alcoholic drinks he allowed himself during confinement. "I don't want to be labeled an alcoholic tennis player, he had launched. I don't spend my time drinking and being torn. I just want to have my little drink and ask myself. We don't play again not before July or August, we usually never have so much time. As a result, it's hard to prepare, to play sports. And then I like to live, have fun, enjoy. So when it's 6 p.m. and we want to chat, we have a drink. But we're still high-level athletes, we don't have a drink every night."