5 hours Ago By Tanveer Mann
Nick Kyrgios has called for an umpire to be fired after making a huge error at an important moment during one of Monday’s Shanghai Masters matches. Experienced chair official Carlos Bernardes called the wrong score during Stan Wawrinka and Flavio Cobolli’s second-round clash. Neither player realised the umpire’s mistake and Cobolli went on to get the only break of the match in that game.
It was a battle of the generations as 39-year-old Wawrinka took on 22-year-old Cobolli, who is making his debut in Shanghai this week. They split the first two sets in tiebreaks before heading into a decider. With Wawrinka serving in the second game of the third set, he won the first point before Bernardes radioed to request electrolytes for Cobolli.
It seemed to throw him off. Cobolli won the next point to get to 15-15 but the umpire called the score 0-30, putting the Italian up on Wawrinka’s serve. Play continued as neither player noticed his error.
The linespeople also didn’t appear to realise what had happened and commentators didn’t pick up on the mistake. Cobolli won two more points to get the only break of the entire match - a break that proved crucial as it won him the match 6-7(6) 7-6(4) 6-3. There were no hard feelings as Wawrinka and Cobolli shared a warm handshake before the 22-year-old paid tribute to his opponent, writing “Grazie Stan” on the camera and branding the Swiss star a “legend of our sport” during his interview.
While both players were unaware of Bernardes’ costly error, Kyrgios saw the incident on social media. Replying to a video of the wrongly called score, he called for the umpire to get the sack. “BERNARDES SHOILD OF BEEN FIRED YEARS AGO.
HOW DOES THIS HAPPEN. Potato,” the former Wimbledon finalist wrote on X (formerly known as Twitter). Wawrinka later retweeted a video of the incident, though he did not share his thoughts on what happened.
Cobolli has yet to address the blunder. But it’s no surprise Kyrgios took issue with Bernardes. The pair had a run-in at the 2022 Miami Open during the Australian’s defeat to Jannik Sinner .
Kyrgios was hit with a code violation after swearing multiple times and things spiralled. When the umpire’s walkie-talkie went off during a point, the former world No. 13 launched a tirade at Bernardes, calling him “embarrassing and horrendous”.
Kyrgios added: “He should be fired on the spot. Get a new set of referees, these guys don't know how to do s***.” The 29-year-old received a point penalty and a game penalty for his antics during the match.
Sinner went on to win in straight sets and Kyrgios took his rant to social media after the match. He tweeted: “‘You could do the job of the umpire’ - what was said to my best friend that got me ‘unsportsmanlike code violation’ at 5-3 in the first set tie break. With 100 of thousands of dollars on the line that was the decision he made because the umpires feelings got hurt.
GET NEW PEOPLE. “I am aiming all of this at an umpire who clearly ISNT GOOD ENOUGH to be doing these matches. Nothing but a slap on the wrist for him right? What a joke.
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