New Delhi: A rather bizarre event unfolded in Hasselt, Belgium on Sunday when Belgium’s Zizou Bergs was declared winner of his match despite shoulder-charging and bundling down his Chilean opponent Cristian Garin, who pleaded for the match to be stopped. Belgium defeated Chile 3-1 in the first round of Davis Cup qualifiers in front of a buzzing home crowd in Hasselt.
Sander Gille and Joran Vliegen beat Tomas Barrios Vera and Nicolas Jarry 6-3, 3-6, 6-3 in the doubles to put the hosts ahead in the tie.
But a massive controversy followed soon after the doubles rubber as Bergs sealed the tie for Belgium with a 6-3, 4-6, 7-5 win over Cristian Garin.
Bergs literally ‘knocks out’ Chile
After holding serve in stunning fashion in a gripping 10th game in the third set, a pumped-up Bergs raced towards his chair in a celebratory mood, and bumped into Garin while changing the ends, sending the Chilean flying.
Bergs’ shoulder caught Garin in the face and left him in wincing pain. The Chilean was left lying on the court clutching his right eye.
Following the nasty collision, Garin received medical attention but Team Chile’s requests to stop the match fell on deaf ears. Instead, they received three successive time violations as play was scheduled to resume.
The three time violations resulted in a game penalty which awarded Bergs the deciding set 7-5 and the match to Belgium.
Zizou Bergs makes a HUGE shot to break serve… but accidently collides with Cristian Garin in celebration 😮 pic.twitter.com/6H2RqRmx4m
— Davis Cup (@DavisCup) February 2, 2025
Garin later revealed he wasn’t fit to finish the match.
“They only wanted to finish that match at any cost,” he said.
The Chilean also shared screenshots of his facial injury and the moment when Bergs’ shoulder rammed into his face.
Garin was left with a swollen red eye. (Image: Instagram.)
Chile’s Davis Cup captain Nicholas Massu expressed his disappointment over the incident and said: “One hour and a half later we still didn’t receive any apology from anyone. Not a single person asked if Cristian is OK.”
However, Bergs later apologized and expressed his regret over the “unintentional” collision.
The controversial win set up a second-round clash between Belgium and Australia.
A massive controversy erupted in Belgium after Zizou Bergs won the Davis Cup match despite bundling down his Chilean opponent Cristian Garin, Tennis Sports News: Latest Cricket News, Cricket Live Score, Sports Breaking News from Sports Today
