(Video) Bizarre scenes at Davis Cup as Belgium’s Zizou Bergs wins match after Chile’s Cristian Garin refuses to play

Cristian Garin received three code violations after he refused to resume his match against Zizou Bergs as he got hurt after a collision.

(Video) Bizarre scenes at Davis Cup as Belgium’s Zizou Bergs wins match after Chile’s Cristian Garin refuses to play

Zizou Bergs beat Christian Garin in straight sets in the Davis Cup after a controversial incident (Images via Screengrab/X)

A bizarre incident during the Davis Cup Qualifier tie between Chile and Belgium on Sunday (February 2) became a talking point in the tennis community. This happened in the final match of the tie between Belgium’s Zizou Bergs and Chile’s Cristian Garin.

Belgium were on the verge of victory as they were leading 2-1 before the Garin versus Bergs clash. During their match, both had won a set each and were tied at 5-5 in the third set before Bergs broke the 28-year-old’s serve and celebrated exuberantly.

YouTube video

But unfortunately, he had no idea that Garin was crossing at the net for his bench, which resulted in a nasty collision. Garin was injured and fell on the court as Bergs hit him on the face and shoulder. The Belgian wasted no time to apologize and spoke to both him and the chair umpire.

FS Video

Watch the video here:

Following this collision, an independent doctor declared that Garin was fit to play, but the Chilean refused to resume. Now reports have emerged that Garin and the Chilean side requested a victory by default but were denied. Garin, as he refused to play, received three consecutive code violations: a warning, a point penalty, and a game penalty. This resulted in Berg’s and eventually Belgium’s victory.

We have no words to describe the unsportsmanlike situation that occurred in the Davis Cup series, when the Belgian player Zizou Bergs ATTACKED Cristian Garin in a change of sides (end of the third set). Whether intentionally or not -see for yourselves- he hit the national tennis player in the eye and shoulder.

Official account of the Chilean Olympic Committee wrote on X

Check out their post here:

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Zizou Bergs says the collision with Cristian Garin was unintentional

Zizou Bergs ended up winning the match with a scoreline of 6-3, 4-6, 7-5. After the controversial incident, Bergs said it was ‘really bad’ to end the match in such a manner as it was never his intention to hurt Cristian Garin.

Cristian Garin
Cristian Garin (Image via Instagram)

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.

Zizou Bergs said after the match (H/T: Davis Cup)

On the first day of the tie, Bergs beat Tomas Barrios Vera in straight sets before Garin tied the scores with a straight-set win over Alexander Blockx. Before the Bergs-Garin clash, Belgian doubles pair Sander Gille and Joran Vliegen took their side to a 2-1 lead with a 6-3, 3-6, 6-3 win over Vera and Nicolas Jarry in the first match.

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Chile will now be participating in a World Group 1 tie. Belgium, on the other hand, are through to the Qualifiers 2nd Round and are set to square off against Australia. The two teams have locked horns seven times, and it’s Australia who emerged as the winner in their previous two encounters in 2019 and 2022.