‘You’re wasting everybody’s time’: Tennis star Paire PENALIZED for ‘not trying’ in Wimbledon showdown with Schwartzman (VIDEO)

French tennis star Benoit Paire was heckled by the Wimbledon crowd and penalized by the match umpire amid accusations that he was "not trying" in his first-round capitulation against Argentina's Diego Schwartzman.

Paire was behind by a score of 6-3, 6-4, 5-0 in their court two clash when he launched a series of soft returns into the net from Schwartzman serves, prompting the courtside official to be cited for a violation, with "poor sportsmanship" being given as the reason.

The Frenchman promptly returned to his seat and demanded that the umpire, Mohamed Lahyani, call a physio to the court - and request which was denied by the official.

"I'm not going to call the physio," he said. "You have to show more sportsmanship. You have to try to do your best."

Paire was subsequently targeted by jeers from the SW19 crowd, with one being heard on the broadcast shouting, "You're wasting everybody's time".

The furious Paire, considered by many to be among the sport's more controversial characters, responded to say that the thoughts of the crowd were not a priority to him.

"I do not care about the people. I play for me and that is it," he shot back.

The 32-year-old, who is currently ranked a career-best 76th in the world, has never been past the fourth round at Wimbledon – or any other major, for that matter.

He has also made several headlines throughout the course of the past year due to his frustrations with the Covid-19 'bubble' which was instituted as a means to help tennis overcome the negative impact of the Coronavirus pandemic which has severely affected most major sports in the last 16 months or so.

"His excuse at first was that tennis was boring without the fans, so what's his excuse now that there are fans?" wrote one fan in response to Paire's tantrum.

"I wish they had a code violation for lack of effort in all sports," agreed another.

"Compare and contrast with [Andy] Murray, Serena [Williams], [Roger] Federer at the French a few weeks ago and Carla Suarez Nevarro," said a third.

"Does the greatest sport on earth a huge disservice."