Five Things To Know About Zizou Bergs

Zizou Bergs' Instagram Story on Tuesday spoke volumes.

“So this is happening on Thursday HEART EYES EMOJI,” he posted.

The Belgian was referring to his upcoming first-round match at the Internazionali BNL d’Italia against 10-time Rome champion Rafael Nadal. It will be the pair’s first Lexus ATP Head2Head meeting.

Before Bergs takes on the legendary Spaniard, ATPTour.com looks at five things to know about the 24-year-old.

Zizou has excelled on the ATP Challenger Tour
The Belgian is on the verge of cracking the world’s Top 100 for the first time, currently No. 96 in the PIF ATP Live Rankings. A majority of his success has come on the ATP Challenger Tour.

Bergs is an eight-time champion at that level, which includes recent success in Florida, where he reached a final in Sarasota before lifting the trophy in Tallahassee.

A three-time major main-draw competitor, the 24-year-old reached last year’s ATP 250 Gstaad quarter-finals as a qualifier and has won a set against the likes of Stefanos Tsitsipas, Holger Rune, Stan Wawrinka and Ben Shelton.

🏆 2023
🏆 2024@ZizouBergs is the first player to defend their title in the 24-year history of the @TallyChallenger! #ATPChallenger pic.twitter.com/WvzzbITXM5

— ATP Challenger Tour (@ATPChallenger) April 22, 2024

The Belgian is a TikTok star
Bergs has long had a presence on social media platform TikTok, where he makes short videos about life as a tennis player.

The Belgian’s videos have been liked 2.9 million times and multiple videos he has created have been viewed more than a million times.

He exclusively sliced backhand for three months
One year ago Bergs made his first ATP Tour quarter-final in Gstaad. The following week at an ATP Challenger Tour event in Zug he tore a ligament in his left wrist.

The Belgian had multiple options, including surgery, which would have kept him off court for a longer period of time, and rehabbing and using a slice backhand. He opted for the latter.

“[Corentin] Moutet inspired me to do it because I knew he had the same issue and he was doing it. Or else I had to be out for three, four months and I know how hard it is to come back to competition after being out,” Bergs said. “I was a little worried I’d lose a lot of momentum from that and I also thought it would be a fun challenge to go out there playing slice and competing against the best players in the world. In the end I can say I actually enjoyed it.”

The 24-year-old has a huge support system at home
While Bergs was recently working hard to win matches in the United States, his family was firmly behind him in Belgium. In fact his father, Koen Bergs, who first began playing tennis with Zizou when he was three, often woke up in the middle of the night to watch his son’s matches.

“He’s definitely the biggest fan I have,” Zizou told ATPTour.com. “He’s always watching, always waking up. I don’t know how he does it. He apparently doesn’t need a lot of sleep.”

Koen also has a consistent presence on social media, where he supports his son from afar. He noted on Tuesday when Zizou defeated Shang Juncheng to qualify for the Rome main draw that there was added significance. It was his late father’s — and Zizou’s grandfather’s — birthday.

“Living this moment whilst my father in heaven is celebrating his birthday today,” Koen wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter. “So proud of this young man, my family, his team and his fans.”

Koen added that he will be attending his son’s match against Nadal in person.

Zizou donates gear to Africa
At the age of 15, Bergs went on a trip to Burundi, a country in Africa. That trip opened his eyes and for the nearly decade since, he has donated used equipment to those in need there.

“We're not always aware about it, but you have so much and sometimes feel like you have little,” Bergs said. “You grow up in a very good culture, in a very good country and you think everything is quite normal that you have all these clothes, shoes, racquets, you can string whenever you want, get great food at the table every day. That is not common [there], it really opened my eyes.

“They would play with my [stuff], even if it was like five sizes too big, they would still play with it. That really touched me.”