WATCH: Chair umpire makes crucial error as Nick Kyrgios hits out – ‘Should have been fired years ago’
A scoring error from chair umpire Carlos Bernardes cost Stan Wawrinka dearly during the second round of the Shanghai Masters and Nick Kyrgios didn’t waste any time to criticise the official.
Three-time Grand Slam winner Wawrinka took on Flavio Cobolli in the ATP Masters 1000 event and the pair shared the opening two sets via tie-breakers as there were no breaks of serve.
After Cobolli held serve in the opening game of the decider, Wawrinka produced a solid first serve in the second game and the Italian’s return went long.
Bernardes announced the score “15-0” before he requested some electrolytes for Cobolli on his walkie-talkie.
The second point of the game went to Cobolli after his drop shot was hit into the net by Wawrinka, but instead of declaring the score “15-15”, the official announced the score was “0-30”.
Neither player, their coaches or spectators noticed the error and the 28th seed went on to break the Swiss’s serve – the only break of serve in the entire match – to take a 2-0 lead, which proved crucial as he won the match 6-7 (6-8), 7-6 (7-4), 6-3.
After footage of the error emerged on social media, Kyrgios slammed the official writing: “BERNARDES SHOILD OF [sic] BEEN FIRED YEARS AGO. HOW DOES THIS HAPPEN. Potato.”
Quite a bizarre situation earlier in the Wawrinka-Cobolli 3rd set.
Bernardes (probably distracted asking for something) called the score wrong in the 2nd game (0-30 instead of 15-15). Nobody noticed the error. Not even the players.
Ended up being the only break of the match. pic.twitter.com/Hjg2l6mLnM
— José Morgado (@josemorgado) October 7, 2024
Kyrgios, of course, does have a history with Bernardes as the official gave him a point penalty at the 2022 Miami Open.
He vented on the court as he shouted: “Get a new set of referees, these guys don’t know how to do s***.
“Walky-talkies going off. It’s a joke. He is a joke. Get rid of every single staff and start over. Everything. I will run the sport. I could do 100x a better job. Marketing. Everything. You guys have no idea. None. You guys can’t even ref right.”
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And he was unapologetic during his post-match press conference as he accused Bernardes of trying to be the “centre of attention.
“I just don’t think [Bernardes] controls the crowd well at all,” the Australian said. “For the point penalty, all I said to my team was that Matthew Reid, an ex-player, could do just as good a job. If that’s worth a point penalty at a Masters event, that is ridiculous in my opinion.
“When everyone in the crowd is booing an umpire and he is becoming the centre of attention, that is not his job. No one in the stadium came to see him talk or do what he does.”