{"id":5302,"date":"2024-11-28T03:00:43","date_gmt":"2024-11-28T03:00:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/?p=5302"},"modified":"2024-11-28T03:00:43","modified_gmt":"2024-11-28T03:00:43","slug":"tennis-umpire-rafa-nadal-wanted-banned-clears-up-his-relationship-with-spaniard","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/?p=5302","title":{"rendered":"Tennis umpire Rafa Nadal wanted banned clears up his relationship with Spaniard"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\n\"Tennis<\/picture>\n

Rafael Nadal famously had his fair share of run-ins with Carlos Bernardes (Image: Getty)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Rafael Nadal wasn\u2019t the only man to retire during last week\u2019s Davis Cup Finals. Renowned chair umpire Carlos Bernardes also called time on his 40-year officiating career.<\/p>\n

It was a funny coincidence given their history, as Nadal once asked for the Brazilian umpire to be banned from calling his matches because he wasn\u2019t \u201crespectful\u201d enough.<\/p>\n

After they both said farewell to their careers in professional tennis, Bernardes cleared up his relationship with the Spaniard and explained where they now stand.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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After spending four decades as a tennis official, Bernardes has experienced his fair share of confrontations from players. He famously had a run-in with Nadal at the Rio Open in 2015 when the Spaniard realised he had put his shorts on the wrong way and wanted to change.<\/p>\n

The 22-time Grand Slam champion was also hit with multiple time violations. Months later, it emerged that Nadal had asked for Bernardes to be removed from his matches. \u201cYes, it was my request,\u201d he confirmed.<\/p>\n

\u201cI consider him a great umpire and a good person, but I think when you have some troubles with the same umpire, sometimes it\u2019s easy to stay for a while away, no?\u201d<\/p>\n

Nadal also claimed that Bernardes\u2019 refusal to let him leave the court to change his shorts \u201cshows not respect\u201d. But they seemed to resolve their spat, as the gold-badge umpire has been in their chair for multiple Nadal matches over the last few years.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n\"Tennis<\/picture>\n

Rafael Nadal retired as Spain crashed out of the Davis Cup Finals (Image: Getty)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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As they both hung it up at the Davis Cup Finals in Malaga, Bernardes revealed that any beef was behind them and admitted he was sad to see the former world No. 1 retire.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have that image because of the arguments. But we always treated each other very well,\u201d he told AS.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe was always very respectful towards me. And this is something I will never forget. I was sad because he ended his career this way. I wanted to be there to see him.<\/p>\n

\u201cI didn’t even think about refereeing him. I just wanted to see him because of the great work he has done for other players. He was very important for tennis.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bernardes\u2019 career was interwoven with Nadal\u2019s in other ways – he officiated the Spaniard\u2019s first ATP Tour match in 2002 and was in the chair for the first Roger Federer vs Nadal showdown two years later.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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And the 60-year-old is happy to have umpired during the Big Four era. Bernardes added: \u201cI think there are no words to describe these guys who are there now finishing their careers.<\/p>\n

\u201cLike Federer, who has already stopped, Nadal, Murray… They changed world tennis. I think there has never been so much passion as in this period. That stress with Djokovic, who is still playing. For me it was an honour to be able to work in this era.\u201d<\/p>\n

It\u2019s no surprise Bernardes holds no grudge against Nadal as he admitted he never had a bad day during a match, acknowledging that what happened on the court stays on the court.<\/p>\n

\u201cNo, not bad. Because I never took things off the court. Never. No matter how bad what happened was, the arguments\u2026 never,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor me, the game was over and off the court it was something else. Because we are the only ones who have a say. And every game, for us, is a final, a different thing. Because you can referee hundreds of games and if you do something wrong in one, you are remembered.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Rafael Nadal famously asked for Carlos Bernardes to stop calling his matches.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":5303,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5302","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-tennis"],"yoast_head":"\nTennis umpire Rafa Nadal wanted banned clears up his relationship with Spaniard - 24\/7 News America<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/?p=5302\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Tennis umpire Rafa Nadal wanted banned clears up his relationship with Spaniard - 24\/7 News America\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Rafael Nadal famously asked for Carlos Bernardes to stop calling his matches.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/?p=5302\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"24\/7 News America\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2024-11-28T03:00:43+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/2-114.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"940\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"603\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/?p=5302\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/?p=5302\",\"name\":\"Tennis umpire Rafa Nadal wanted banned clears up his relationship with Spaniard - 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