Cornet accepts apology but blasts Bernard

ALIZE Cornet welcomed the US Open’s apology for her clothing warning – then criticised the president of the French Tennis Federation for banning Serena Williams’ catsuit.

A media storm erupted after the French player was given a warning for quickly changing her top on court on Tuesday after realising she had put it on back to front.

The decision was branded sexist given male players regularly change shirts on court, and US Open organisers responded with a statement yesterday admitting Cornet should not have received any sanction.

Cornet was shocked by how much attention the incident has received and accepted it as simply a mistake by the umpire.

She said: “I think just the umpire was probably overwhelmed by the situation. We were all very hot. Of course, I was surprised when I just changed T-shirt really quick and he gave me the code violation, I didn’t expect it, and I told him it was pretty weird.

“I didn’t think that this code violation would become so famous in less than 24 hours, and I’m very surprised about it.”

While Cornet was happy to accept the warning as merely an error, she was far less charitable towards French federation president Bernard Giudicelli, who caused a stir on the eve of the tournament by saying the catsuit Williams wore at the French Open this year would no longer be deemed acceptable because players have to “respect the game”.

Cornet said: “We still have some people, like the president of my federation that lives in another time They are totally shocking.”