Andy Roddick gets honest about facing threats to his family and 'terrible' taunts in 'scary' Davis Cup experience

Andy Roddick has revealed a “terrible” Davis Cup experience while representing Team USA in a match against Chile during his playing days. The former World No. 1 spoke about the incident while reacting to the recent Zizou Bergs-Cristian Garin saga at the Davis Cup last week.

Last week, during the Chile vs. Belgium Davis Cup match, controversy erupted when Bergs ran into Garin during the changeover. The Chilean fell to the floor, sustained a swollen eye, and could not continue playing.

Despite repeated appeals and protests from the Chilean team, the match referee did not penalize Bergs; instead, Garin received a game penalty for delaying the match. Chile went on to lose the tie and was eliminated from the competition.

Reacting to the incident, former US Open champion Andy Roddick recalled a time when he faced a hostile crowd in Chile.

“I've never had worse things said to me on a tennis court than when we played Davis Cup in Chile. It was the worst stuff ever. There was this one fan that was threatening my family, doing all this stuff, calling me all sorts of terrible things. I gave him a little one-finger salute under my hand when we lost and he about lost it and then I just ran home. I was scared after that,” said the American while speaking on his podcast Served with Andy Roddick (7:57 onwards).

Roddick added that it was challenging when a team of 12 players was up against a crowd that backed the home nation. He called a similar instance while playing in Belgium.

“I don't know that I've ever been called worse things on a tennis court. In Belgium, I got stuff thrown at me when I was leaving during the Davis Cup,” he added.

Roddick was part of the USA team that beat Russia to the Davis Cup title in 2007.

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Martina Navratilova reacts to Zizou Bergs-Cristian Garin Davis Cup incident

Tennis great Martina Navratilova. Source: Getty

Tennis great Martina Navratilova weighed in on the Zizou Bergs-Cristian Garin Davis Cup feud and felt Bergs should have been defaulted for colliding with Garin. Navratilova also mentioned that she wasn’t a fan of Bergs’ grunting.

Taking to social media platform X, Navratilova wrote:

“I am sorry- that should be a default. Out of control. Mind you the screaming is not great either😳”

This wasn’t the first controversy at the Davis Cup this season. Earlier last week, Thiago Seyboth Wild and Arthur Fils were embroiled in a heated argument over a line call.