Carlos Bernardes Had A Heck of a Day
“If you don’t want to watch tennis, just go home.”
With Serbia already up 1–0 in their quarter-final ATP Cup tie against Canada, and Novak Djokovic stepping up to the plate, you might have been forgiven for thinking the rest of the tie would be straightforward. Umpire Carlos Bernardes may have expected similar simplicity for his day — but you, and he, would have been wrong.
Denis Shapovalov has been having quite the run for the Canadian cohort at the ATP Cup, overcoming Stefanos Tsitsipas and Alexander Zverev, and reminding us why he’s one of the most exciting young players on tour. It’s not all been smooth sailing, though.
In Canada’s round-robin tie against Australia, falling behind in the score to Alex de Minaur, himself having a marquee event, Shapovalov became frustrated with the raucous home crowd. Demonstrating not-particularly-Canadian behavior, Shapovalov began to taunt the home crowd, drawing boos and attempting to use that energy to push himself on. It didn’t work, and he lost the match in three sets.
That, it turns out, was not to be the end of Shapovalov’s frustration with the ATP Cup patrons.
After a fantastic first set against Djokovic, in a stadium with a substantial number of Serbian fans, the Canadian yet again found himself falling behind in the score. This time, members of the crowd seemed to decide to get in on the action to try and distract Shapovalov. He responded, having a verbal altercation with a member of the crowd, drawing jeers.
Enter, Umpire Carlos Bernardes.
“Don’t do that,” Bernardes warned Shapovalov, giving him a conduct warning. At the next change of ends, Bernardes called Team Canada captain Adriano Fuorivia to his chair to warn him about his player’s behavior.
“If somebody says something to him, tell him to come to me,” the Umpire warned, explaining that he should be the one to handle the crowd and have any offending members removed. Cautious of his own microphone, he mouthed that he’d heard a “Fuck You” from the young Canadian. Fuorivia nodded along with the warning, and returned smiling to the bench where he relayed the message to his player.
Shapovalov may have received the message, but the crowd did not. Immediately at the commencement of the next game, Shapovalov looked frustrated by the noise of the crowd, who were becoming increasingly disturbing to the flow of play.
Bernardes intervened.
“This is a tennis game, the most important thing between all of us is respect.”
It was a perfect tennis-dad umpiring moment, but the crowd were not yet appeased. As Djokovic stepped forward to serve, some folks in the stadium continued to make noise.
Bernardes was not going to tolerate it, his tone growing increasingly pointed.
“If you don’t want to watch tennis, go home. Don’t disturb those who are here to watch tennis.”
This last comment drew applause, as well as adoration from tennis fans online. Bernardes had succeeded in quieting the crowd for the moment, and the match was able to continue.
It wasn’t the end of Bernardes’ busy day though. With the score level and the third set growing increasingly tense, Novak Djokovic’s frustration began to bubble. Unfortunately, somebody in the crowd had forgotten to turn their phone to silent, the tinny ring drawing a curse of frustration from Novak, and a conduct warning from Bernardes.
“You’ve got to be freaking kidding me!” Djokovic said, approaching the chair, unhappy with the warning.
“It’s a bad word, Novak,” Bernardes asserted. “I gave [Shapovalov] a warning too.”
All seemed ok for a while — until late in the third set.
“Stop!” Bernardes suddenly shouted as Djokovic tossed a ball to serve. “Somebody is ill!”
As a member of the crowd was attended to court side, Djokovic brought over a water bottle and passed it over to her, before she made her way out of the stadium with assistance from the medical and security team.
The match would continue to a final set tie break, where the crowd would again grow incredibly loud, annoying the Canadian as he dropped behind in the score. Once more he motioned in frustration, once more they booed, once more Bernardes was forced to cool the mood in the stadium.
Novak Djokovic eventually battled his way to victory, sealing the tie and a semi-final spot for Serbia, 4–6 6–1 7–6(4).
Both athletes on court displayed incredible fight, but for Umpire Carlos Bernardes, it was a confident and masterful performance.
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