Less than a week ago, Simon Briggs of the Telegraph reported that Rafael Nadal had asked the ATP to avoid having Carlos Bernardes as a chair umpire for the time being. It was a strong accusation and Briggs had some choice words for the propriety of such a decision. But people always have crazy accusations against the top players.
In short, Bernardes gave Nadal several time violations in the match he umpired in Rio de Jenairo on February 22nd of this year. Time violations and Nadal have always had an uncomfortable history. The Spanish #1 has long been accused of taking far too long in between points. There is rarely a match in which he averages below the 25-second time limit, let along staying under it on every point. Opponents and fans of opponents have complained for years about Nadal’s violations going uncalled. A few umpires over the last year or two have sometimes given Nadal a warning at some point in the match. But no one has taken away a first serve for it. Well, for once, Bernardes decided to actually enforce the rulebook.
Still, this was just conjecture and conspiracy theories. Yes, Bernardes took the strongest stand anyone has so far on Nadal and time violations. And yes, Bernardes hasn’t officiated a Nadal match since then. 2+2=4, right? But it can’t be something as simple as Nadal not wanting an umpire who actually calls the match by the book, right?
After his opening-round match at Roland Garros on Tuesday, a courageous journalist decided to actually ask Nadal about Briggs’ claims. And, shockingly enough, Nadal admitted to it. He said that he did indeed ask the ATP to have Bernardes stay away from his matches for a while. He had praise for Bernardes overall but thought that, after Rio, he should not be on the same court for a little bit.
Of course, it wasn’t as simple as Nadal being upset about time violations called. That would be absurd. Rather, it’s a little weirder.
In short, if you remember a funny scene from then, Nadal came out onto the court with his shorts on backwards. Don’t ask me how that happens. But Nadal asked Bernardes if he could change his shorts on court (surrounded by towel-bearing ballkids, obviously). Bernardes acceded to the request but said that it would, by definition, be a time violation for Nadal. Which is sensible. It takes time to change the shorts and players can’t just fix their equipment like that in the middle of the match when the equipment error is their fault. (If you remember when Nadal’s shoelace broke in the 2014 Australian Open, he was allowed to change his shoes without penalty because that was entirely out of his control; putting on your shorts backwards before getting on court is very much in the player’s control.) Bernardes got it right.
Now, Nadal was probably upset by Bernardes’ attitude. Bernardes chuckled at the situation a little. We know that umpires are supposed to be stoic. I know I wouldn’t be able to hold in my laughter if a top athlete put his shorts on backwards. That being said, I’m not a professional umpire. Part of Bernardes’ job is to stay professional when crazy things like this happen.
That deals with Nadal and Bernardes. Nadal felt disrespected by the shorts situation and was probably more than a little miffed at the time violations throughout the match. The combination of the two are almost certainly what led to Nadal’s request.
Now, though, what about the ATP granting Nadal’s request to stay away from Bernardes for a while? Everyone knows that Bernardes is one of the best umpires in the game. He sits in the chair at Masters and Grand Slams consistently. He umpires the top players. He is one of the top umpires. He was one of the few who was willing to call time violations against Nadal. And now he won’t be placed at Nadal’s matches.
The only similar situation that immediately comes to mind is Jeff Tarango. Tarango was being heckled by some fans at Wimbledon in 1995 so he told them to “shut up”. Chair umpire Bruno Rebeuh called him for a code violation for an “audible obscenity”. Tarango was so upset by this that he asked for the tournament supervisor to remove Rebeuh from the chair. When he was told that Rebeuh would complete the match, Tarango called Rebeuh “corrupt”, which elicited another code violation for “unsportsmanlike conduct”. Tarango stormed off the court and was banned from Wimbledon the following year. In the ensuing months, Rebeuh was kept away from Tarango’s matches. (In a bit of vindication for Tarango, Rebeuh was actually suspended from umpiring six months later and resigned before the suspension ended; those were the only code violations ever given to Tarango in his professional tour career.)
That is a situation where keeping a chair umpire away from a player makes sense. That’s not just bad blood. It’s bad blood to the point of the inability for either to do their job when the other is on court. This? This is just absurd. The precedent that the ATP is setting by keeping Bernardes and Nadal away from each other is an awful one. Don’t like a call an umpire made? Ask to be kept away from them. Don’t like that they called the time more strict than you like? Ask to be kept away from them.
The ATP likes keeping their top players happy. They know that superstars drive the popularity of the sport. And they know that many die-hard fans will always side with their favorites. But this is the integrity of the sport. The chair umpires keep the sport a competition. You can’t have an objective competition without a judge. And Bernardes is indisputably one of the best. Granting Nadal’s request to stay away hurts that integrity. And it sets a precedent that, if followed, will erode that integrity altogether.
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