Fall-out over fruit-gate continues.
World No. 229 Elliot Benchetrit made global headlines for the wrong reason when handed his banana to the ballgirl during an Australian Open qualifying match and asked her to peel it.
More: Zverev All In With Major Bushfire Relief Pledge
The 21-year-old Frenchman was admonished by chair umpire John Blom, who bluntly reminded the player the ballgirl is "not your slave."
The incident went viral with Hall of Famer Martina Navratilova tweeting "What's next grapes?" adding "John did the right thing, that's for sure."
Benchetrit has defended his actions, telling CNN the ballgirl had peeled a banana earlier in the match at his request.
'At 6-5 in the final set, during the changeover, I asked the ball girl to peel the banana for me as I had put some cream on my hands in order not to sweat," Benchetrit told CNN's Massimo Marioni. "She had done it once before at the beginning of the match. But the second time the chair umpire stepped in and told me that the ball girl was not my slave and I had to peel the banana myself."
The Frenchman said he was surprised by social media criticism.
"I could not believe that the umpire said that and I find incredible how this situation got out of control on social media without people knowing what really happened on court," Benchetrit told CNN.