Davis Cup: Bergs collision with Garin, what is your opinion?

Written by: Stefan Jonsson | February 4, 2025
bergs garin collision

We’ve seen some good battles and also some crazy scenes at the Davis Cup matches this week, covered in our This Week in Tennis. First it was the drama in the France vs Brazil match where both the umpire and Fils got some heavy criticism, following some strange decisions.

In the Belgium vs Chile clash, we got some even wilder stuff, when Zizou Bergs collided with Chile’s Cristian Garin while celebrating towards the end of the match.

What happened?

In a tense part of the match where Bergs looked the stronger, the Belgian made a great shot and a break of serve for 6-5 in the third set. This caused him to celebrate and start sprinting towards his bench with his finger in the air. What he didn’t notice (or did he?) was Garin coming up around the net post, walking towards his bench.

Bergs jumped up in celebration and collided with Garin, hitting his shoulder/chest in the face of the Chilean and knocking him to the floor.

Garin was checked by an independent doctor and was cleared to resume playing (according to the ITF), but refused to do so as he was dizzy from the hit and felt unable to continue the match.

The ITF commented that it was a rare incident and continued:

“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.” 

Garin did not agree, called for his opponent to be disqualified, and later took to Instagram to show his slightly swollen eye.

“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.”

Bergs was given a code violation for unsportsmanlike conduct but as Garin refused to continue, he received three consecutive time violations, which led to a game penalty and therefore losing the match.

Watch the incident

What’s your opinion?

Was this intentional by Bergs? Did the officials make the right call here?

Personally I think this was an accident, looking at the videos, especially seeing the reactions just after the hit. However, the decision was not the right one. Even if it was not intentional, this was not proper behaviour from Bergs. He just broke serve and was about to serve for the match, it’s hard to understand those wild celebrations and actions from him.

Zizou Bergs was just too pumped up, made a huge mistake at that part of the match where he ended up injuring his opponent, and should have been disqualified.

What do you think? Let us know below in the comment section!

Leave a comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Stefan Jonsson

Stefan is a writer at Tennisnerd since 2023 and keep the readers updated on new events, betting tips and general tennis news.