YOU CANNOT BE SERIOUS!
AS SOON as Brazilian umpire Carlos Bernardes stepped onto the court, he knew it was going to be a difficult morning in the chair. It was the Miami Open 2022 and he’d been assigned the last-16 clash between young Italian player Jannik Sinner and Australian Nick Kyrgios.
From the start, Kyrgios was on edge, muttering about the slow conditions on court. At 4-4 in the first set, he made a good return on Sinner’s serve, only for noise from Bernardes’ walkie-talkie to loudly interrupt play. Bernardes called for the point to be replayed.
“You should be fired on the spot,” Kyrgios yelled at him. “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.”
Unfortunately for Bernardes, that was only the beginning. With each changeover, Kyrgios continued to criticise the umpire, calling his performance outrageous and embarrassing. As the first set reached its climax, Bernardes issued Kyrgios a warning for audible obscenity, then docked him a point for unsportsmanlike conduct after the Australian loudly said to his friend in the stands that he could do a better job than Bernardes.
Kyrgios is famous for his clashes with officials, but this was unusually personal.
Upon losing the set with a double fault, Kyrgios went off at Bernardes once more, shouting repeatedly, “What is unsportsmanlike?” before smashing his racket, demanding to see a higher-ranked tournament official and receiving a game penalty.
When the crowd joined in, booing
