Swiss tennis star Stan Wawrinka fell victim to a major refereeing error in his Round of 64 match against Italy’s Flavio Cobolli! Wawrinka’s opening point in the second game of the third set was incorrectly awarded to the Italian during the Shanghai Masters clash. After witnessing this significant error in such a high-stakes match, several tennis experts voiced their astonishment. The first to raise his voice against the mistake was Nick Kyrgios, who expressed frustration, though he wasn’t surprised by the incident. Later, even Coco Gauff’s former coach reacted with a “dumbfounding” response to the controversy in Shanghai.

The match started well, with both players taking one set each. However, in the deciding set, there was a crucial moment when the three-time Grand Slam champion won the first point of the game after the Italian’s return went wide. Surprisingly, chair umpire Carlos Bernardes incorrectly awarded the point to Cobolli, making the score 15-0 in favor of the Italian. Cobolli then won the next point, and the umpire called the score as 30-0 instead of 15-15. Interestingly, neither Wawrinka nor Cobolli noticed the mistake at the time. Wawrinka ended up being broken at 40-15, which turned out to be the only break of the match.

Flavio Cobolli later sealed the deal against the experienced Swiss by 6(6)-7,7-6(4),6-3. After witnessing this massive blunder from Bernaredes, Nick Kyrgios tweeted, “BERNARDES SHOILD OF BEEN FIRED YEARS AGO. HOW DOES THIS HAPPEN. Potato.” Even Coco Gauff’s former coach shared his thoughts in the comment section of a tweet highlighting the incident. Brad Gilbert wrote, “I am dumbfounded. How does that basic mistake happen and was not corrected, did not see the match if this happened inexcusable.”

However, this isn’t the first time a chair umpire has made a scoring error. In 2004, a similar incident occurred during Venus Williams’ match against Karolina Sprem. This is also not the first time Kyrgios has expressed frustration over Carlos Bernardes. The Brazilian chair umpire, who joined the ATP Tour in 1990, has already announced that this will be his final season on the Tour. However, Bernardes has been involved in several controversial incidents in the past.

For instance, during the 2022 Miami Open, Bernardes gave Kyrgios a point penalty at a crucial moment in the first-set tie-break of his match against Jannik Sinner. At 4-4 in the first set, Kyrgios made a strong return on Sinner’s serve, but the play was interrupted by noise from Bernardes’ walkie-talkie. Players were told to replay the point. Kyrgios was furious, later lashing out at the umpire.

We heard him say, “You should be fired on the spot. How is that possible? How is that possible! The fourth round of Miami, one of the biggest tournaments, and you guys just can’t do your job.” This match in Shanghai was also crucial for both players. What did the 22-year-old Italian say after securing a remarkable victory against one of the sport’s legends?

Flavio Cobolli shares an interesting story of his dad and Stan Wawrinka

Despite the controversy, the match was highly entertaining, lasting 2 hours and 30 minutes. Both players brought their best efforts in this exciting Round of 64 clash. Shortly after securing his victory against Wawrinka, Cobolli praised the 39-year-old star.

Flavio Cobolli stated, “He’s (Wawrinka) a legend of our sport,” and expressed that it was a pleasure to play against him. He then revealed that his dad had played Wawrinka when the Swiss was just 20 years old, in the quarterfinals of the Brindisi Challenger tournament in 2003.

Now interestingly after almost 21 years, Flavio Cobolli is  22 and Wawrinka is just one short of touching his forties. “It’s a great thing!” said the youngster. What else did he say? Cobolli seemed to have enjoyed his time playing against Wawrinka, but for the Swiss, this loss was a bitter pill to swallow. There was even a moment during the match when Wawrinka lost his cool and smashed his racquet after failing to convert a breakpoint early in the third set. The match truly had everything! Share your thoughts on the controversial incident in the comments.