A French tennis star posted a mid-match Instagram photo of himself on the beach before tanking the final set

• Benoit Paire took to Instagram mid-match at Wimbledon to post a photo of himself on the beach.
• The Frenchman then tanked the end of the match amid heckles from the crowd.
• "I do not care about the people," he told reporters after the match. "I play for me and that is it."

French tennis star Benoit Paire is never far from controversy.

And things were no different earlier this week as he lost to Argentine Diego Schwartzman in the first round of Wimbledon.

Paire was two sets down against Schwartzman on Monday night when the match was suspended due to darkness.

During the evening's break, the 32-year-old posted a photo of himself on a beach on Instagram alongside a crude description of his performance so far.

"THIS IS REALLY WHAT I'M DOING RIGHT NOW," Paire said, using a poop emoji in the middle of his sentence.

When he returned the next day, things went from poop emoji to worse.

After going 5-0 down in the final set, Paire stopped trying, hitting his returns into the net. He was handed a code violation by umpire Mohamed Lahyani for unsporting conduct, to which he did not take kindly.

"Call the physio, I have pain," he declared as he went to his chair.

The umpire responded: "You cannot play like this. I'm not going to call the physio for this. You have to show more sportsmanship."

Someone from the crowd then shouted to Paire: "You're wasting everybody's time."

Paire returned to the court for the match's final two points, however this time sent back wild returns as he made over the top noises.

"I do not care about the people," he told reporters after the match. "I play for me and that is it. I do not play for people.

"I don't like when it is the bubble. I'm not entirely focused. I just try to stay in my room and do my COVID test. I disagree with everything.

"The thing I don't like is how they treat us, like staying in the bubble and everybody is out in the city. I don't understand."

On Wednesday evening, the Frenchman then posted an Instagram story of himself seemingly in a nightclub singing and dancing. It is unclear where Paire was, as nightclubs cannot legally open in the UK right now because of COVID restrictions.

Paire has previously spoken of his dislike for COVID-era tennis, admitting in March that he aims to lose in the first round of tournaments so that he can earn quick money and then relax.

"Tennis is not my priority at the moment. Getting out of the bubble is the only goal I have at every tournament," he said.

"I arrive, I take some money and I go to the next tournament. I do my job."