• ATP World Tour Finals

Umpire scared of Nadal - Berdych

Rafael Nadal spoke with ATP supervisor Tom Barnes © Getty Images

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Tomas Berdych accused umpire Carlos Bernardes of being scared of world No. 1 Rafael Nadal following his defeat to the Spaniard at the ATP World Tour Finals in London.

Nadal set up a semi-final clash with British No. 1 Andy Murray after a 7-6(3) 6-1 victory, but Berdych was unhappy at the circumstances at the end of the first set.

With Nadal serving to take the first set to a tiebreak, the Spaniard appeared to question a return from Berdych, believing the ball was long. The line judge did not call the ball out, but the point was awarded to Nadal after an overrule by Bernardes.

Berdych challenged the call and Hawkeye deemed that the ball was in, and so the umpire overturned the decision, awarding the point to the Czech. However, Nadal argued the point should be replayed and unleashed a torrent of Spanish at the Brazilian umpire before complaining to ATP supervisor Tom Barnes.

Berdych did not blame Nadal, but instead claimed Bernardes had not taken control of the situation.

"It just shows the referee is probably scared of him and just let him to talk with him too long," Berdych said. "The rules are quite correct - when you ask for the challenge; he stops the game. It's simple - the point is what the challenge shows. Let's play and continue, not keep talking. Then he was almost sitting there like he's not going to play.

"It's not the mistake of Rafa, it's the mistake of the referee. He just needs to show him that he can't do whatever he wants on the court."

Nadal claimed he never challenged the call and only raised his arm instinctively. The Spaniard claimed that because his return was in, the point should have been replayed.

"To stop the point, you have to say you stop," Nadal said." I [raised my arm] but it's intuition because I saw the ball out."

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