Former CEO of French Tennis responds to Mahut slamming Davis Cup: “He has to retire, he is ignorant”

The former CEO of French Tennis Bernard Giudicelli has called Nicolas Mahut ignorant over his comments on the Davis Cup calling on him to retire.

Nicolas Mahut did not hold back in criticising the ITF of how they handled the Davis Cup by virtually selling it off to Kosmos which started a cycle of changes. Most tennis players rejected it and Mahut went on to say that four years of the Davis Cup were lost. He personally singled out Giudicelli for his roles in the ITF and FFT:

"We lost four years of Davis Cup. We should never have allowed this. Maybe they thought they were making a good decision, but quickly saw that it wasn't working. Giudicelli also knows what I think of his decision as vice president of the ITF and president of the FFT."

Well, the response is in:

"He is ignorant. I don't see how a 41-year-old player can explain to a 20-year-old colleague how things are supposed to work. Mahut should retire. Maybe he will become a journalist, this would give him the opportunity to make harsh criticisms. Which it does quite well already."

Former players came quickly to the defence of Mahut on social media which is likely due to their similar view of what Mahut described. The ITF is now back in control of the Davis Cup after mounting pressure caused me to cut ties with Kosmos so it seems Mahut might have been right. C'est la vie.