Belgium’s home Davis Cup tie came to an unfortunate conclusion on Sunday when, with the hosts leading 2-1, Zizou Bergs knocked over and injured his Chilean opponent Cristian Garin while celebrating a key break of serve to go 6-5 ahead in the deciding set.
Bergs sprinted wildly towards the Belgian bench at the changeover, as he looked forward to serving for the match, but, looking towards his celebrating bench, he floored Garin, catching him in the eye with his shoulder as they both passed through the narrow space between the net and the umpire’s chair at the same time.
Bergs looked shocked and immediately apologised, but the dazed Garin needed medical treatment to his swollen eye and then refused to continue, with the Chilean camp calling for Bergs to be disqualified.
But instead, though Bergs was given a warning for unsportsmanlike conduct, it was Garin who was penalised with three consecutive time violations for not restarting, which led to a game penalty and Chile losing the set, the match – 6-3 4-6 7-5 – and the tie 3-1.
Garin, who was reported afterwards by Chile’s team doctor Alejandro Orizola to have been ‘in no condition’ to continue, reportedly complained to experienced Portuguese umpire Carlos Ramos: ‘If you are not going to default him, default me! You don’t have the guts to do it to me!’
The Chilean team were left raging, railing at their opponents’ bench as tensions heightened.
Pictured: Chile’s Cristian Garin reacts a split-second after Zizou Bergs (with his back to the camera) slammed his shoulder into his right eye
Bergs appeared shocked and immediately apologised for the collision
The Chilean team and tennis fans were outraged when Garin was hit with three straight time violations despite his team doctor telling the umpire the star was unable to continue
Garin vented his anger on Instagram after the match, writing: ‘So the player is injured and can’t continue to play but we do like nothing happened. Wow what a beautiful World and what a great mentality.’
He also showed his followers a photo of his right eye looking red and swollen, and wrote in a later post: ‘I still cannot believe we got disqualified … Years of loving this sport and I’ve never thought I would live something like what happened.’
‘They only wanted to finish that match at any cost,’ Garin added in his post-match press conference as he insisted he wasn’t physically able to continue playing.
Chilean captain Nicholas Massu also lashed out, saying: ‘One hour and a half later we still didn’t receive any apology from anyone. Not a single person asked if Cristian is OK.’
Tennis fans were left outraged by what they saw.
‘The most blatant default ever witnessed and not given,’ one wrote on X.
‘The umpire made an awful decision by punishing Garín (i.e., Chile) for Bergs’ easily preventable error. You don’t jump like that without first making sure the coast is clear,’ added another.
Garin posted this furious message on Instagram after the time violations cost him the match – and saw Chile lose the tie to Belgium
‘This was an awful call. Tennis looks ridiculous,’ commented a third.
‘Outrageous! The Belgian player should have been disqualified,’ another wrote.
There could well be more repercussions because if Bergs had been disqualified, as the Chileans wanted, the tie would have come down to a decider featuring their star man Nicolas Jarry against Belgian teenager Alexander Blockx.
Instead, it’s the Belgians who will travel to Australia in September where Lleyton Hewitt’s team, who had beaten Sweden 3-1 in Stockholm the previous day, will play their first home tie in the ‘World Cup of men’s tennis’ for three years.
The Australians, fired by world No.8 Alex de Minaur, will be overwhelming favourites for victory in a second qualifying round tie against a team powered by Bergs, the world No.60, and 19-year-old prospect Blockx, who’s No.146.
