A costly scoring error from chair umpire Carlos Bernardes left three-time Grand Slam champion Stan Wawrinka on the losing end of a controversial second-round match against Flavio Cobolli at the Shanghai Masters. After the players split the first two sets, Wawrinka’s serve in the third set was compromised by a baffling mistake: Bernardes announced the score incorrectly, calling it “0-30” instead of “15-15” after a point went Wawrinka’s way. Neither player nor their teams noticed the slip, which ultimately led to Cobolli breaking Wawrinka’s serve—the only break in the match—as he claimed a 6-7, 7-6, 6-3 victory.
The error didn’t go unnoticed by Nick Kyrgios, who criticized Bernardes on social media, writing, “BERNARDES SHOULD OF [sic] BEEN FIRED YEARS AGO. HOW DOES THIS HAPPEN. Potato.” The outburst added fuel to an already tense relationship between Kyrgios and Bernardes, dating back to previous incidents, including a 2022 point penalty at the Miami Open.
Kyrgios, known for his outspoken style, has consistently called out officials, claiming that Bernardes often makes himself the “center of attention.” During the Miami incident, he told the crowd, “Get a new set of referees… I could do 100x a better job.”
Wawrinka’s loss drew attention to how minor oversights can impact high-stakes matches, and Kyrgios’s reaction reflects a broader frustration with officiating consistency in tennis. As the tennis world debates the need for stricter checks, Bernardes’s oversight adds to a series of incidents that have sparked calls for reform in the sport’s officiating standards.
