Rafael Nadal famously had his fair share of run-ins with Carlos Bernardes (Image: Getty)
wasn’t the only man to . Renowned chair umpire Carlos Bernardes also
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’t “respectful” enough.
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.
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.
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. “Yes, it was my request,” he confirmed.
“I consider him a great umpire and a good person, but I think when you have some troubles with the same umpire, sometimes it’s easy to stay for a while away, no?”
Nadal also claimed that Bernardes’ refusal to let him leave the court to change his shorts “shows not respect”. 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.
Rafael Nadal retired as Spain crashed out of the Davis Cup Finals (Image: Getty)
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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.
“We have that image because of the arguments. But we always treated each other very well,” he told .
“He 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.
“I 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.”
Bernardes’ career was interwoven with Nadal’s in other ways – he officiated the Spaniard’s first ATP Tour match in 2002 and was in the chair for the first vs Nadal showdown two years later.
And the 60-year-old is happy to have umpired during the Big Four era. Bernardes added: “I think there are no words to describe these guys who are there now finishing their careers.
“Like 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.”
It’s 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.
“No, not bad. Because I never took things off the court. Never. No matter how bad what happened was, the arguments… never,” he said.
“For 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.”