He’d like to a-peel.

A French tennis player who was rebuked at the Australian Open for asking a ball girl to peel his banana has defended his peculiar request — saying it was okay because she had already performed the task for him earlier in the match.

Elliot Benchetrit, 21, was scolded by an umpire during his match Saturday, against Kazakhstan’s Dmitry Popko, after asking the girl to peel his fruit, according to CNN.

Footage of Benchetrit’s odd request also led to a wave of criticism on social media.

But the athlete claims the situation was overblown — as the girl had performed the same task for him at the beginning of the match with no objection.

“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 said, according to the outlet.

“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.”

Benchetrit said he was stunned by the comment and believes the ensuing backlash was unwarranted.

“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,” he said.

Benchetrit won Saturday’s match despite the banana incident, then went on to lose Tuesday to Japan’s Yuichi Sugita.