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Excerpts from TheAtheltic/ NYT article (paywall): " How Cristian Garin and Zizou Bergs’ Davis Cup tie descended into tennis farce over default rules"
Lede: "The Davis Cup rubber between Zizou Bergs of Belgium and Chile’s Cristian Garin ended with a swollen eye, disqualification pleas and an international incident on Sunday night.
In the third set of the match, Bergs broke Garin’s serve with a brilliant forehand pass to go up 6-5 and serve for the match. He sprinted to the net in celebration and leapt up into the air, just as his opponent was crossing over to return to his seat.
Bergs struck Garin in the face with his right shoulder, with the Chilean grasping at his right eye and collapsing to the ground."
"In doing so, Bergs set off an extraordinary chain of events, featuring disputes between Garin and his own doctor, debate over tennis’ rules on disqualification and what Chile’s Olympic committee publicly called a “shameful international incident”. When the smoke cleared, Garin had been given a game penalty for refusing to return to the court, losing the final set 7-5 and the tie 3-1.
Here is the story of a strange evening in Hasselt, Belgium." What happened?
The incident occurred with Belgium up 2-1 in the tie. After being knocked to the floor, Garin picked himself up but looked shocked and disorientated by what had happened. Bergs apologised instantly, before umpire Carlos Ramos gave him a code violation for unsportsmanlike conduct.
Chile were furious with what they perceived to be a lenient punishment, with Garin making this point forcefully as he received medical attention. After that attention was completed, Garin refused to resume the match. Ramos then issued him with three successive sanctions, all for not returning to the court in time. After a normal code violation and a point penalty, Ramos issued a game penalty, forcing Garin to lose the set and the match, and Chile the tie.
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"Ramos said that the independent tournament doctor cleared Garin to continue, which meant that he was committing a time violation by not returning to court in the allotted changeover time. The regulations, however, do not ascribe any outcome or impact of an action when considering whether or not a player should be defaulted, nor do they consider intent (whether or not an action is deliberate). Garin’s injury status should not, according to the rules, affect Ramos’ ruling on Bergs.
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He claimed that he lost consciousness for three seconds, though Chile’s team doctor disputes this. Chile’s doctor still emphasized that Garin “was not in any condition to continue playing”, disagreeing with the assessment of the tournament’s own medical staff.
Chile’s team captain, Nicolas Massu, a former Olympic singles and doubles champion and coach of 2020 U.S. Open champion Dominic Thiem, added, “One hour and a half later we still didn’t receive any apology from anyone. Not a single person asked if Cristian is OK.”
Lede: "The Davis Cup rubber between Zizou Bergs of Belgium and Chile’s Cristian Garin ended with a swollen eye, disqualification pleas and an international incident on Sunday night.
In the third set of the match, Bergs broke Garin’s serve with a brilliant forehand pass to go up 6-5 and serve for the match. He sprinted to the net in celebration and leapt up into the air, just as his opponent was crossing over to return to his seat.
Bergs struck Garin in the face with his right shoulder, with the Chilean grasping at his right eye and collapsing to the ground."
"In doing so, Bergs set off an extraordinary chain of events, featuring disputes between Garin and his own doctor, debate over tennis’ rules on disqualification and what Chile’s Olympic committee publicly called a “shameful international incident”. When the smoke cleared, Garin had been given a game penalty for refusing to return to the court, losing the final set 7-5 and the tie 3-1.
Here is the story of a strange evening in Hasselt, Belgium." What happened?
The incident occurred with Belgium up 2-1 in the tie. After being knocked to the floor, Garin picked himself up but looked shocked and disorientated by what had happened. Bergs apologised instantly, before umpire Carlos Ramos gave him a code violation for unsportsmanlike conduct.
Chile were furious with what they perceived to be a lenient punishment, with Garin making this point forcefully as he received medical attention. After that attention was completed, Garin refused to resume the match. Ramos then issued him with three successive sanctions, all for not returning to the court in time. After a normal code violation and a point penalty, Ramos issued a game penalty, forcing Garin to lose the set and the match, and Chile the tie.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Ramos said that the independent tournament doctor cleared Garin to continue, which meant that he was committing a time violation by not returning to court in the allotted changeover time. The regulations, however, do not ascribe any outcome or impact of an action when considering whether or not a player should be defaulted, nor do they consider intent (whether or not an action is deliberate). Garin’s injury status should not, according to the rules, affect Ramos’ ruling on Bergs.
~~~~~~~~~~~
He claimed that he lost consciousness for three seconds, though Chile’s team doctor disputes this. Chile’s doctor still emphasized that Garin “was not in any condition to continue playing”, disagreeing with the assessment of the tournament’s own medical staff.
Chile’s team captain, Nicolas Massu, a former Olympic singles and doubles champion and coach of 2020 U.S. Open champion Dominic Thiem, added, “One hour and a half later we still didn’t receive any apology from anyone. Not a single person asked if Cristian is OK.”
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