A strange point theft cost Wawrinka the match in the end

Failed in Shanghai Curious: Stan Wawrinka.
picture alliance/KEYSTONE

Stan Wawrinka’s best days are behind him, but the 39-year-old Swiss has not lost his desire for tennis. On Monday he was the three-time Grand Slam winner (Australian Open 2014, French Open 2015 and US Open 2016) and was eliminated in the second round at the ATP Masters in Shanghai – but in a particularly strange way.

Wawrinka won the first set in the tiebreak against Flavio Cobolli, 17 years his junior, but the Italian countered in the second round and forced the decisive third set. This was the only break of the entire match – and chair referee Carlos Bernardes played a large part in it.

Serious mistake by the chair umpire

The Brazilian forgot to score Wawrinka’s first point in the game, probably because he was distracted by requesting electrolytes for Cobolli. The Italian won the next rally, whereupon Bernardes put the scoreboard at 0:30 instead of the correct 15:15. The world number 30 then won. the break and shortly afterwards the match with 6:7 (6:8), 7:6 (7:4), 6:3.

New coach at Schalke: Will van Wonderen create a miracle?

Schalke 04 has, once again, a new coach. Kees van Wonderen is the new addition to the crisis club and is supposed to keep the Royal Blues out of the relegation battle. The Dutchman is still unknown in this country. What kind of guy is he? kicker reporter Toni Lieto classifies the new head coach.

8 hours ago
12:12 minutes

In retrospect it was also clear: the experienced umpire Carlos Bernardes had made a serious mistake. The most unusual thing is that no one noticed it, not even Wawrinka or someone from his team.

This continued a less than successful year for Wawrinka. The world number 236. lost another close match and remains at a loss about it. According to his own statements, his training performance is good, but he is unable to bring that to the pitch in the matches. Ultimately, this meant that he has only won six matches so far in 2024 – he has never won two matches in a row this year.

Cobolli will again meet the next grandee of the tennis circus in the third round: Novak Djokovic is waiting for the 22-year-old, who, unlike Wawrinka, is still one of the top people on the tour.