The Davis Cup final is set to take place on Sunday, with Spain and Italy vying for the coveted tennis title. However, the prestigious tournament was tainted by controversy earlier this year when Zizou Bergs and Cristian Garin were embroiled in an on-court incident. The event occurred during the first round of qualifying between Belgium and Chile back in February.
Belgian ace Bergs inadvertently knocked Garin to the ground while celebrating a service break. Chilean player Garin subsequently downed his racket and refused to continue the match, despite being examined by a medical professional. This led to a penalty for Garin and Belgium was consequently declared the winner. Garin expressed his disapproval of the decision not to terminate the tie.
The intense match seemed to be swinging in Belgium’s favour, particularly after Bergs broke serve for a 6-5 lead in the third set. As Bergs rejoiced over his break, he headed straight towards his team bench.
With his finger in the air and riding a wave of elation, the Belgian appeared oblivious to Garin as he navigated around the net post. Bergs then leapt and collided with Garin, making contact and causing him to fall to the court. Garin was promptly assessed by an independent doctor.
According to the International Tennis Federation, he was given the all-clear to resume play, but declined. Garin was issued three consecutive time violation penalties – a warning, a point penalty, and then a game penalty.
Belgium clinched a 3-1 overall victory, prompting an ITF statement: “This was a rare, unfortunate and very delicate situation and everyone involved, including the independent doctor, conducted due diligence based on rules and procedures.
“We understand the emotions attached to this unusual incident, but the final decision was made after consideration of all the facts and unique circumstances around it.”
The drama didn’t end there as Garin later took to Instagram, posting a photo of what appeared to be a black eye and criticising the ITF’s decision.
“I still can’t believe they disqualified me,” he wrote in his caption. “I can’t believe the umpire wanted to force me to continue the match despite my dizziness after two hours and 40 minutes of high-intensity play.
“I’ve loved this sport for years, I’ve seen millions of matches and I’ve never seen, or even thought of experiencing anything like this in my life. It saddens me to finish in this way, especially after all the effort put in this week and all the work done by the team. Thanks to the ITF for not worrying about my health. Thanks to all the Chileans. It’s a difficult moment, but we’ll carry on.”
Bergs received a code violation for unsportsmanlike conduct. The umpire for the tie, Carlos Ramos, described the debacle as an “unfortunate accident”.
Discussing the incident, Bergs said: “It’s truly unintentional. Out of excitement at the break, I jumped in the air and I wanted to go fast to the bench, but I made a completely wrong decision to not wait for the opponent to pass.
“When I saw that he didn’t wait, I wanted to go to the side, but eventually I still hit him with shoulder. Once again, it’s truly unintentional. I was checking on him, I said sorry to him, to the coach, to the team.
“It’s obviously not what you want, to hurt an opponent, and then it’s up to the umpires to decide what the decision is going to be. It feels really bad to end this way. When the match was done, I said to Massu my apologies, because we respect him.”