French tennis boss accused of trying to ‘score some points’ while French Open ‘could be punished’

Shahida Jacobs
March 30, 2020

The French Open could face the wrath of the tennis community over French Tennis Federation President Bernard Giudicelli’s decision to “go it alone” and reschedule the tournament, according to the German tennis chief.

With tennis suspended until June 7, Roland Garros organisers opted to reschedule the clay-court Grand Slam with September 20-October 4 pencilled in as the new dates.

However, the decision did not go down well with a lot of role players with the US Open slamming their “unilateral decision”.

German Tennis Federation President Dirk Hordoff says Giudicelli was most likely the driving force behind the move.

“This is not the French way of doing things, it’s Bernard Giudicelli’s way of doing things,” he told Germany’s Sky Sport.

He added: “I believe he panicked because of the elections coming up [in February 2021] and wanted to score some points on his opponent.”

German tennis chief: ‘Wimbledon will be cancelled. There is no doubt about it’

It remains to be seen if the tennis season will resume on June 8, but the powers that be are still trying to draw up a new schedule that will be accepted by all.

Hordoff says there is a possibility that the French Open may not take place in their new slot and Roland Garros organisers could be punished for their initial decision.

“The lack of solidarity from the [Roland Garros] organisers has been criticised by everyone and I predict that the French Open will not rescheduled as they imagined. Either they will work with the whole tennis family to come up with a sensible plan or they will feel the consequences of the whole tennis family.

“They will lose [ranking] points and that will result into a chaotic event. There is a need to work together and not to go it alone, as the president of the French Tennis Federation did.”

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