Massú explodes after Bergs' attack on Garín: "The doctor was not neutral"

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Cristian Garín was disqualified from the tie between Belgium and Chile of the 2025 Davis Cup. The Chilean was taken aback by Bergs' enthusiastic celebration as he ran towards the bench after a break at 5-5 in the third set, causing him to fall to the ground after an impact that could have been accidental or intentional. After a tense discussion with the chair umpire and experienced supervisor Carlos Ramos, they chose not to disqualify the Belgian and forced Garín to continue the match even though he claimed to have fainted. This led the Chilean team to decide not to continue playing as they were outraged by the situation. The chair umpire ended up disqualifying Chile with three consecutive warnings for delaying the game.

In the past, Novak Djokovic was disqualified for accidentally hitting a line judge with a ball in the 2020 US Open quarterfinals, while Denis Shapovalov was also expelled from a match for hitting the chair umpire with a ball during a Davis Cup tie with Canada in 2017. However, in this instance where one player impacted another, no decisive action was taken. Whether accidental or not, the only certainty is that on a tennis court, you cannot hit your opponent in any way. Nicolás Massú, Nicolás Jarry, and the affected Cristian Garín spoke at a press conference after the incident.

- Massú sees negligence in the doctor's actions

"The doctor is not neutral, he was more focused on continuing the match and the show, not on Cristian's condition. This cannot be. We want to send a clear message to the ITF: This is a lack of respect. The doctor only spoke with the referee for 12 seconds, and he is supposed to be neutral. We will speak with the federation president to see what can be done, we may have to appeal as we are affected. We have done nothing wrong and we are eliminated," a visibly upset Massú exclaimed.

"We have not received an apology from anyone. No one has come to apologize or check on how Cristian is doing, and an hour and a half has passed since the incident. I am completely surprised; I shook hands with both the referee and their captain (Steve Darcis) and received absolutely nothing, I am hurt."

- Garín explains his version

"I was giving it my all, putting in 100%. Suddenly I see Bergs leaping towards me, and I wake up two seconds later on the ground. I lost consciousness for three seconds, I fainted, and didn't understand the situation. I would have liked to finish the match this way. They forced me to play when I had a contusion and was dizzy; we find what happened very imprudent and insensitive. I have no words to describe what happened. I've been watching tennis since I was born, and I had never seen anything like it. I feel bad, and I'm sorry the umpire made me play."

- A 'fair-play' sport in theory

Nicolás Jarry also wanted to share his perspective on the events, as the entire Chilean team was deeply affected: "I don't understand where in the rules it says you can hit someone in a tennis match. We support Garín in his decision and are very surprised by the situation. They say this is the most beautiful sport in the world where fair-play reigns, but today things were not handled correctly."

This news is an automatic translation. You can read the original news, Massú explota tras la agresión de Bergs a Garín: "El médico no era neutral"