Davis Cup action returned last week, and with it came one of the most controversial tennis incidents in recent memory.
The ‘World Cup of Tennis’ returned to our screens in a big way, as the Davis Cup produced yet another memorable incident.
Zizou Bergs knocked down Cristian Garin, rushing to the net in celebration after securing a break late on in the deciding set of their match.
Many believe that Bergs should’ve been defaulted from the match, with the Chilean Tennis Federation describing the incident as an ‘injustice’.
Martina Navratilova thinks Bergs should’ve been disqualified, although she did suggest that Garin’s ‘screaming was not great either’.
With the world of tennis divided over the incident, one ATP Tour legend has had his say on how he would’ve reacted.
Andy Roddick admits he may have done the same as Cristian Garin after recent Davis Cup controversy
Speaking on his Served with Andy Roddick podcast, former world number one Andy Roddick gave his thoughts on the controversial Davis Cup moment.
“[Zizou] Bergs should he have been hopping through there when it was crowded?” he said.
“No.”
Roddick went on to give an opinion that he thinks could ‘get him in trouble’.
“[Cristian] Garin got popped a little bit but here’s where I am at,” he said.
“If I get popped a little bit and I am Garin, maybe it’s bad, whatever, you are sitting there and you’re cogent enough to put together the pieces.
“This is going to get me in trouble, [are] you ready for it?
“If you are on the ground looking up and the guy is serving for the match, so what are you, about 15 or 20% max chance to break?
“But you are not going on as if you are 40% chance to break there, if you are Garin, you are putting [Carlos] Ramos [the umpire] in a weird spot, are you 50/50 to get the default?
“I would have been thinking it, I tell you what, if I thought I had a 10% chance to break but a 50/50 [DQ chance] what is more responsible to your team right there?”
Roddick did, however, go on to say that he would’ve perhaps acted differently to Garin, as the incident unfolded.
“But then a certain amount of time passes, you have got to realise if it is going to happen, it is going to happen in the first little bit,” he said.
“Then you have to call the trainer and do the whole thing and we hope he is okay.”
The 2003 US Open champion then reviewed Bergs’ response to the incident on social media.
“They put up a thing and Zizou kind of said sorry not sorry, saying that the umpire was on my side, so yay, we are advancing,” he said.
Bergs went on to win the match, 6-3, 4-6, 7-5, helping Belgium secure their place in the second round of Davis Cup qualifiers, where they will face Australia.
Have any other ATP Tour players been ‘defaulted’ from matches in recent years?
Considering tennis is a non-contact sport, disqualifications, or ‘defaults’ don’t happen all that often.
That’s not to say, however, that there haven’t been some high-profile incidents over recent years.
Perhaps the biggest of them all came at the 2020 US Open when heavy favorite Novak Djokovic was defaulted after a stray ball hit a line judge.
Despite his best efforts explaining himself, the Serb was kicked out of the competition, as the line judge appeared injured.
Pablo Carreno Busta advanced from their fourth-round match before Austria’s Dominic Thiem took advantage of an open draw to win in New York.
At the time, some suggested that the decision was harsh, implying that other players may not have received the same punishment.
Nikoloz Basilashvili suggested Djokovic would be ‘banned for life’ if he had done what Bergs did to Garin at the Davis Cup earlier this month, as the perception that the Serb is treated unfairly remains prevalent.
Djokovic isn’t the only player to have been disqualified in recent times, however, as world number ten Andrey Rublev was defaulted in Dubai last year.
The Russian screamed in the face of a line judge after a controversial call during the latter stages of his semi-final match with Alexander Bublik.
Several other incidents have occurred since 2020, as players continue to get punished for unacceptable behaviour on the ATP Tour.
| Event | Player | Opponent | Incident |
| 2021 Mexican Open | Damir Dzumhur | Botic van de Zandschulp | Leaving the court after disputes with the umpire |
| 2021 Barcelona Open | Fabio Fognini | Bernabe Zapata Miralles | Alleged ‘verbal obscenity’ towards a line judge |
| 2022 Adelaide International | Corentin Moutet | Laslo Djere | Verbal obscenity towards the umpire |
| 2023 Lyon Open | Mikael Ymer | Arthur Fils | Hitting the umpire’s chair twice with anger |
| 2023 Shanghai Masters | Marc Polmans | Stefano Napolitano | Hitting the ball to the umpire in anger |
| 2024 Washington Open | Denis Shapovalov | Ben Shelton | Offensive language directed at a spectator |
It remains to be seen if any of the aforementioned players will be involved in controversy again, although they’ll no doubt hope to avoid being defaulted in the near future.
Rublev will take part in this week’s Rotterdam Open, while Djokovic is expected to return to action in Doha, later this month.
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