Stan Wawrinka also loses because of a referee mistake

On Monday evening, Stan Wawrinka (ATP 236) defeated Flavio Cobolli (ATP 30), who is 17 years his junior, in Shanghai after a good two and a half hours with 7:6, 6:7, 3:6. The defeat is bitter for the 39-year-old Swiss.

This is because it continues a series of horrors for Wawrinka. The three-time Grand Slam champion only managed a total of six victories at ATP level this year. Even more bitter: he was never able to win two games in a row.

And what’s more: The defeat against Cobolli didn’t have to happen. So there was a scandal in the second round of the tournament. In the third set, star referee Carlos Bernardes made a mega mistake. Wawrinka actually gave a point, but the referee didn’t see it and counted it for Cobolli.

Carlos Bernandes was probably distracted because he was requesting electrolytes for Cobolli over the microphone. And so it happened that instead of 15:15, he gave Cobolli a lead of 30:0. The point ultimately led to the first and therefore decisive break in the third set.

Nobody noticed during the game. Not the referee, who is stepping down after the end of this season, and neither are any of the players. However, Wawrinka reposted a video of the scandalous scene on X after the game. There is generally huge anger towards X. Dozens of fans posted the sequence on social media and angrily wrote burnt lines.