“I tell you something, Carlos. You don’t get a single one right.” The phrase is lacking, provocative, the result of the adrenaline of the moment. But, for better or worse, it will forever mark the career of Carlos Bernardes. It was uttered by Rafa Nadal himself, who, like the chair umpire, said goodbye to the Barcelona Open this week, a Godó who this Friday took advantage of the last match refereed by the Brazilian, the Stefanos Tsitsipas-Facundo Díaz Acosta quarter-final match, to pay him a heartfelt tribute.
An emblematic referee, Bernardes began his journey 35 years ago, when he was only 23, and in that time he has refereed more than 7,000 matches in 700 tournaments, and some 400 finals including Grand Slams, ATP Finals, ATP and Challengers. Among them, in Wimbledon, in the US Open and in the Australian Open, in doubles, in addition to matches for the bronze medal at the Beijing 2008, London 2012 and Rio 2016 Games. In this 2024 of his retirement, he has reduced his calendar is only 22 weeks away, and this week in Barcelona, accompanied by his wife, Francesca, he has behaved like another idol, from whom even the youngest people asked for autographs next to the players’ area.
One of the heated discussions between Carlos Bernardes and Rafa Nadal.ben radfordCorbis via Getty Images
However, what remains in memory are his tug-of-war with Nadal. Like the one at the 2010 London Masters, when the manacorí was discussing a ball that he had seen inside him and he blurted out: “I don’t want to play. “You are telling me something outrageous, Carlos.” More emphatic was that famous statement at the 2012 Australian Open, after denying him a hawkeye that he had supposedly requested late: “Are you watching the match or what? Don’t you see that I stopped and didn’t continue playing? I tell you one thing, Carlos, you don’t get one thing right.”
And he already finished off at the 2015 Rio de Janeiro Open, when he had shown him two ‘warnings’ for being late in serving: “I’m going to ask that you never referee me again, because I can’t handle you anymore.” However, the relationship between the two was not as bad as it seemed in those moments of tension. It was proven in 2021. Bernardes suffered a heart attack during the COVID-19 quarantine at the Australian Open and precisely at the Godó, after refereeing the final between Nadal and Tsitsipas, the Spanish tennis player dedicated some very affectionate words to him: “I’m very happy having seen him refereeing this final in Barcelona today. I hope we can continue days like today together.”
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Also in that Godó who now bids farewell to him with applause, but in the 2022 semifinals, it was Carlos Alcaraz who the chair umpire got mad about. Furious over a ball from Álex de Miñaur that the hawk eye considered good, the Murcian shouted at him: “Now the one who is screwed and has to come back is me.” Genius and figure. After his retirement at the end of this season, Bernardes plans to dedicate himself to advising young tennis players who are starting their careers.
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2024-04-19 19:25:30
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