“Pretty rank”: Karl Stefanovic slams odd request from French tennis player
Tennis fans and Karl Stefanovic watched on in shock as French tennis player Elliot Benchetrit was told off by the umpire for asking a ball girl to peel a banana for him.
The World No. 228 was taking part in qualifying for the first grand slam of the year when he requested a banana for some energy.
However, with his hands bandaged heavily due to blisters, he asked the ball girl delivering the banana to peel it for him.
This was met with a scolding from the umpire, John Blom, who told him to peel it himself.
Stefanovic has since let his thoughts be known on the matter.
“That is pretty rank isn’t it, asking a ballgirl to peel a banana?” Stefanovic said on Tuesday.
“Asking a ball-person to do that is disgusting. I think it’s terrible.”
French tennis player Elliot Benchetrit has been told off by an umpire after he asked a ball girl to peel his banana for him. Thoughts? 🚫 🍌 #9Today pic.twitter.com/VWiTHeffjB
— The Today Show (@TheTodayShow) January 20, 2020
Sydney Morning Herald columnist Jessica Irvine agreed, saying that ball kids should not be given “outrageous” tasks.
“It’s rigorous training to be a ball-person, you’ve got to be very professional, and I really don’t think that peeling bananas is part of the division of labour,” Irvine said on the Channel 9 program.
“If she did it, she should get a pay rise. That is not the point of having ballgirls and ballboys around, their job is to get the ball. That’s outrageous.”
It appears that the banana gave the Frenchman the strength he needed as he managed to win the match and qualify for the main draw of the Australian Open.
He will now face Japanese World No. 91 Yuichi Sugita in the opening round and has earned himself a nice $90,000 payday by qualifying for the Open.