Bernard Giudicelli in the stands of Roland-Garros on October 5, 2020. -

CHRISTOPHE SAIDI / SIPA

The president of the French Tennis Federation (FFT) Bernard Giudicelli, implicated in a case of false diploma, told AFP on Thursday that he was the victim of "defamation" and of a double translation error of his CV.

According to the

Mediapart

website on

Thursday, Bernard Giudicelli produced a CV when applying for a position at the International Federation (ITF) indicating that he had a doctorate in economics while a few years earlier his CV indicated that he had a license, which was therefore lower.

The theft of a diploma is punishable by a fine to prison.

#BernardGiudicelli claimed to be a doctor of economics when he applied in 2019 to join the board of directors of the International Tennis Federation, while he only has a DESS, by his own admission.

https://t.co/atXuciuyci

- Mediapart (@Mediapart) November 5, 2020

It is therefore a "serious accusation" but based on "erroneous information", believes the boss of the FFT.

"This false allegation is based exclusively on a CV published on the agenda of the 2019 General Assembly of the International Tennis Federation (ITF) and of which I am not the author," said the person concerned in a statement to AFP.

“Indeed, on May 24, 2019, I sent the ITF an application form for the post of member of the board of this organization, under the terms of which I indicated to be" Graduate economist - Aix-Marseille University 1980 ", as a translation of the DESS in economics which I hold, ”explains the manager.

"An error in understanding and translation"

“This is the only document I have sent to the ITF in support of my candidacy.

It is on the basis of the information contained in the application form that the CV appended to the agenda of the 2019 General Assembly was drawn up, ”he says.

In this 2019 CV, the phrase “Graduate economist” was translated by the ITF “into a doctorate that I never claimed to have.

It therefore clearly contains an error in understanding and translation ", he underlines, adding that" in the same context, the opposite error was made in 2015, when the same DESS diploma was wrongly translated as a correspondent. to a "license in economics", diploma below DESS.

The CVs of candidates are translated by the ITF into several languages ​​for members of the international organization.

Presidential election postponed to February

This controversy comes a few weeks before the election of the president of the FFT, postponed to February 13, 2021, where Bernard Giudicelli faces a list led by former player Gilles Moretton.

Calling into question "opponents of the (management) team currently in place", the outgoing president of the FFT believes that we wanted to "achieve (his) honor and (his) reputation" and intends to seize "the criminal jurisdiction on the basis of defamation ”.

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