There have been some high-profile umpiring mistakes in recent months on the ATP Tour, but the error made during Stan Wawrinka's match with Flavio Cobolli may have been the most stunning of them all.
Many hoped that the technology now used during matches would mean no more arguments with umpires about wrong decisions or mistakes, which have been a part of tennis since the beginning.
Several tournaments now use automatic line-calling. That makes line judges increasingly rare, although they're still being used at the ongoing 2024 Shanghai Masters, which uses the traditional system of allowing players three challenges per set.
The automatic line-calling has not prevented controversies from occurring. Taylor Fritz was left baffled when he was not awarded a point after the automatic system did not go off despite a ball from his opponent, Brandon Nakashima, being clearly out.
There has also been confusion about when the technology can be used. Felix Auger-Aliassime lost against Jack Draper at the Cincinnati Open after the umpire Greg Allensworth wrongly ruled that Draper's shot on match point was not a double bounce.
Fans watching were perplexed as to why someone at the tournament could not just look at the replay people saw on television and tell those on the court that it was a double bounce.
However, the umpiring mistake seen at the 2024 Shanghai Masters was not like those previous examples. The technology could not be blamed for the umpire's mistake, and no one else realized what had happened.
Wawrinka, who competed in the Shanghai Masters as a wild card, was serving down 7-6, 6-7, 0-1 against Flavio Cobolli. As seen in the video below, he won the opening point of the game after an unreturned serve from his opponent, Cobolli.
The umpire, Carlos Bernardes, who will retire after this year, correctly called the score afterward. Bernardes is then heard asking for electrolytes to be brought out for Cobolli after he previously requested them.
What happened next was scarcely believable. A delightful drop shot from Cobolli won him the next point, meaning the game should have been level at 15-15 heading into the next point.
Instead, Bernardes called the score "0-30." That gave the Italian the initiative in the game even though he had not actually won the first two points. A basic error like that happening at such a significant tournament on the ATP calendar is shocking.
Bernardes made a bad mistake, but it was even more surprising that no one else noticed it. Neither the players nor the many officials at the tournament realized that the score had been called incorrectly.
Unfortunately, that error had a significant effect on the match. Cobolli broke Wawrinka for the only time in that game before winning the contest 6-7, 7-6, 6-3 to progress to the next round.
It is not guaranteed that Wawrinka would have held had the score been called correctly. However, no breaks of serve occurring during the rest of the match means the difference between 15-15 and 0-30 was probably crucial in that game.
0 Comments