The Chilean Olympic Committee (COCh) has vowed to push for action to be taken over an incident that resulted in the country losing its Davis Cup tie against Belgium.
The South American nation was trailing the tie 1-2 heading into Cristian Garin’s match against Zizou Bergs. During the closing stages, Bergs broke his rival for a chance to serve the match out. Celebrating his break of serve, the Belgian sprinted towards the side of the court where he accidentally crashed into Garin, hitting his eye and knocking him onto the ground.
Garin was then heard saying that he was ‘not going to play’ due to the injury he suffered and questioned why his opponent wasn’t defaulted. Something that has previously happened to Denis Shapovalov when he hit a tennis ball out of anger that hit an official in the eye. As a result, Garin forfeited the match which handed Bergs and his team the overall victory.
“Cristian Garin received a strong blow to the eyeball, which is why he fell and hit his head. This caused inflammation, difficulty seeing, nausea and a severe headache, although he never lost consciousness. Cristian Garin was not in a condition to continue playing.” Chile’s team doctor Alejandro Orizola said afterwards.
The incident has prompted a swift response from COCh who criticised the decision to not default Bergs.
“The Olympic Committee of Chile would like to express its annoyance and disbelief at what happened today in the Davis Cup series between Belgium and Chile, where our tennis player Christian Garin received an assault from the player Zizou Berges during a change of sides,” a statement reads.
“A situation that caused him to have physical consequences, certified on the ground by Chief Medical Officer Alejandro Orizola.
“We have expressed to the tennis federation of Chile all of our collaboration (in pressing for action to be taken).”
Steve Darcis, who is Belgium’s team captain, addressed the issue by admitting that it was ’50/50′ if Bergs would have been disqualified.
“The way we won is bizarre. The chair umpire was in a difficult position. Zizou did not do it deliberately, it happened in the joy of the moment,” said Darcis.
“Zizou deserved a different ending to his match. The party is now somewhat spoiled and this is not a nice moment. Hopefully Cristian is doing well, but this was a game incident. Something like that can happen.
“It could have been possible (that Bergs would be disqualified) but that is the umpire’s interpretation. Again: it was not intentional.“
As for Bergs, he points out that Garin saw him coming before the collision took place.
“It was an incredible party until the last point, what an atmosphere. I could close the match on my own service and then something like this happens.” Berges reflected.
“After that passing shot, I went up in the air and walked to the bench. I thought I was ahead of that Chilean… But he didn’t move either and saw me coming. It must be my fault, although I thought it was exaggerated on his part. The referee judged my part.”
Belgium is through to the second round of the Davis Cup and will play Australia in September. Meanwhile, Chile has been relegated to World Group I.
There is yet to be any public statement from the International Tennis Federation concerning Bergs’ incident with Garin.
NOTE: Quotes were origionally in Spanish/Dutch and have been translated into English.
