“Cannot Force Me to Change My Shorts in Front of Everybody”: When Rafael Nadal Accused Under-Fire Umpire Carlos Bernardes of Disrespect

Carlos Bernardes has been in the headlines lately for all the wrong reasons. However, this is not the first time the chair umpire has received widespread criticism in the tennis community. Rafael Nadal once revealed an incident explaining why he did not respect the Brazilian official.

Nadal has often been criticized for resting for too long in between points, games, and sets. During the second round of Wimbledon 2018, the Spaniard received a time violation even before the commencement of the match. The Mallorca native agreed with umpire Bernardes’ decision but disclosed why there is tension between the two.

In the same press conference, the multiple-time Grand Slam winner highlighted an incident that occurred during the Rio Open 2015. Bernardes prevented Rafa from leaving the court to change his shorts that were put on backward. Instead, the King of Clay was forced to fix his wardrobe malfunction by covering himself with a towel and changing on-court.

“For me personally was [disrespectful]. Not because of time violation. I can understand the time violations. I can’t understand when I was wrong, I make a mistake, I put my shorts the other way. You cannot force me to change my shorts in front of everybody, you know. For me, that’s not respectful,” an enraged Nadal recollected.

Rafa’s supporters have criticized Bernardes since the incident. Similarly, Stan Wawrinka’s fanbase is now condemning the umpire due to his blunder during the Shanghai Masters 2024.

Nick Kyrgios believes Carlos Bernardes should be fired for his mistake

Flavio Cobolli and Stan Wawrinka engaged in an action-packed contest during the first round of the Shanghai Masters 2024. The competitive encounter witnessed neither player breaking the other’s serve through the first two sets.

However, during the second game of the deciding set, Carlos Bernardes made a critical error.

Wawrinka won the first point of his service game, followed by Cobolli winning the second point. Instead of the game score being 15-15, a distracted Bernardes announced that the Italian was leading 0-30. Ultimately, the Swiss star got his serve broken and eventually lost the match.

The error resulted in an outburst on social media. While several esteemed users expressed their frustrations, Nick Kyrgios demanded the ATP fire the Brazilian umpire.

The tournament organizers have not yet reprimanded the veteran umpire. Instead, he’s been permitted to continue officiating matches the next day as well.