Crazy faux pas

Referee mistypes and costs Wawrinka victory

Stan Wawrinka(Bild: AP)

What a faux pas by tennis referee Carlos Bernardes: at the ATP tournament in Shanghai, the Brazilian made a blatant mistake that was probably one of the decisive factors in Stan Wawrinka's defeat.

The Italian Flavio Cobolli beat the Swiss Wawrinka 6:7, 7:6, 6:3 at the Masters 1000 tournament. At 1:0 for Cobolli in the third set, the almost unbelievable mishap occurred: Wawrinka won the first point on his own serve - referee Bernardes correctly announced the intermediate score (15:0), but entered it incorrectly on the scoreboard.

Flavio Cobolli(Bild: APA/AFP)

When the next point went to Cobolli, the score should actually have read 15:15, but the scoreboard showed 0:30. Wawrinka didn't notice the mistake - and neither did anyone else. When the score was 30:40 a little later - actually 40:30 - the Italian scored the point and took the ultimately decisive break in set three. Incidentally, it was the only break of the entire match.

Carlos Bernardes during a Nick Kyrgios match at the ATP tournament in Miami two years ago(Bild: APA/Getty Images)

Kyrgios rails against the referee: "Potato"
Wawrinka himself and the ATP have not yet commented on the serious faux pas. But tennis bully Nick Kyrgios, who has been ranting against world number one Jannik Sinner for weeks, has. "Bernardes should have been sacked years ago. How can this happen? Potato," scolded the Australian on X.