Not many players on the ATP Tour can say they have beaten Novak Djokovic before.
Djokovic is a 24-time Grand Slam champion, but he is currently in a less dominant stage of his career.
After losing in the Wimbledon semifinals, there has been a lot of speculation about Djokovic’s potential retirement.
This is not the first year that Djokovic has struggled for form, with the Serbian losing to a player in 2018 who was told he had one of the worst shots on the ATP Tour.
Photo by Manuel Mazzanti/NurPhoto via Getty ImagesBrad Gilbert claimed Benoit Paire had the worst forehand on the ATP Tour in 2018
Djokovic was stunned at the Australian Open in 2018, undergoing elbow surgery shortly after his fourth-round defeat.
However, this did not help him at his next tournament of Indian Wells, where Djokovic was beaten in the first round by qualifier Taro Daniel.
Djokovic was hoping to return to winning ways at the Miami Open, where he would play world number 47 at the time, Benoit Paire.
They had only played once before, with Djokovic winning that match in straight sets, but the Frenchman would get revenge on this occasion.
Paire would stun defending champion Djokovic, who had won his last 16 matches at the Miami Open, in straight sets.
This was a third consecutive defeat for Djokovic, who has only repeated this unwanted feat once since then.
It would also bring an end to the coaching relationship between Djokovic and Andre Agassi, which did not even last a year.
Paire would lose his subsequent match against another Serbian, Filip Krajinovic, and would be on the wrong end of a brutal comment later that year.
At the 2018 edition of the US Open, an ESPN commentator who would go on to become the coach of Coco Gauff, Brad Gilbert, was asked who he thought had the worst forehand from the top 100 on the ATP Tour.
Gilbert did not dodge this question and instead said, “Maybe, Benoit Paire.”
Photo by Alex Grimm/Getty Images
These comments came just after Paire had lost to Roger Federer in the second round of the US Open.
What is Benoit Paire doing in 2025?
Paire, who has a career-high ranking of world number 18, would not be a possible answer for Gilbert anymore, as he is currently nowhere near the top 100 of the ATP rankings.
The sometimes controversial Paire, who was once barred from representing France at the Olympic Games due to his behaviour, has since plummeted down the rankings.
Paire is now the world number 628, which is his lowest ranking since 2009.
The now 36-year-old almost exclusively competes on the ATP Challenger Tour in 2025, where he has won only three of his last 14 matches.
However, following his first round defeat at the Challenger tournament in Troyes, France, Paire revealed that he would be taking some time away from the court to recover from physical issues.
He wrote on Instagram, “No more tournaments as long as I’m in pain… No return date, it will depend on my body, but nothing for a good while.
“I’ve had 12 injections in a year and a half, and I feel that if I push through, something will really give out. So I’ll come back only when I feel capable of stringing together points, matches, and tournaments.”