DON’T ask Benoit Paire what he thinks about Wimbledon … or David Ferrer for that matter.

Unknown Paire exited Wimbledon with a vintage verbal volley in which he claimed he ‘hated the tournament’ and ‘wanted to leave as soon as possible’.

He was certainly better value after his match than during it.

But number seven seed Ferrer became the biggest casualty in the men’s draw as he also slumped away from the All England Club with a groan and moan, blaming a stomach upset for his five set defeat.

Ferrer, who has reached the last eight at his last two appearances here, was seeded to face defending champion Andy Murray in the quarter-finals but went down 6-7, 6-0, 3-6, 6-3, 6-2 to Russian’s Andrey Kuznetsov, a former boy’s champion here and world number 118.

“I lost because my opponent was better,” he said, somewhat stating the obvious.

“In important moments he was more aggressive than me and that was the difference. I lost, I’m sad, I’m disappointed but it’s not the end of the world for me.”

Novak Djokovic survived a scare against Czech veteran Radek Stepanek to secure his progress - but the 6-4, 6-3, 6-7, 7-6 scoreline showed how tough it was.

Djokovic’s coach Boris Becker is the only top seed in the history of the tournament to lose in the second round, when he was beaten by Peter Doohan 27 years ago. And he’d left his charge under no illusions about what might happen if he followed his lead.

But Stepanek is a canny campaigner and made the former champion sweat in the final two sets.

“I expected a tough match, he loves this surface and played really well at Queen’s,” he said.

“I’ve got a better idea of where my game is at now because I know he’s a very talented player on grass.

He knows my game quite well and he really fought for it.

“I wanted to finish the match in three sets and he came back and very close and even fourth set that could have gone either way. I’m just glad I’ve got through because it was always going to be a great challenge and I really feel in the tournament now.”