Belgium Channeling Its Enjoyment On Court Into Improved Davis Cup Ranking

Zizou Bergs
Zizou Bergs (photo: Emmanuele Ciancaglini/Getty Images for ITF)

BOLOGNA/WASHINGTON, November 26, 2025 (by Michael Dickens)

Belgium came into last week’s Davis Cup Final 8 playing above their nations ranking of No. 11. They were one of the last eight teams that remained, and after eliminating France in the quarterfinals they reached the last four. 

Although the Belgians were eliminated in the semifinals by eventual-champion Italy 2-0, they captured everyone’s attention – especially during the No. 1 singles match, which ultimately decided the tie, in which Zizou Bergs lost a dramatic 32-point, final set tie-break 17-15 to World No. 22 Flavio Cobolli.

Looking back on the 2025 season, Belgium channeled its team spirt and enjoyment on the tennis court into becoming an improved Davis Cup team, that is reflected in its results and higher nations ranking. Earlier this season, Belgium defeated Chile 3-1. Then, during the second round of the Qualifiers in Sydney, Belgium upset favored Australia 3-2 behind a pair of wins from Raphael Collignon at No. 2 singles, which advanced them to the Davis Cup Final 8.

Earlier this week, Belgium was elevated to fourth place among the 2025 Davis Cup Nations Rankings, their second-best ranking since No. 3, which they reached for the first time in November 2017. Although the Belgians have competed in 102 seasons of Davis Cup play going back to 1904 – covering more than 200 ties – they’ve never hoisted the Davis Cup trophy. They finished runners-up in 1904, their first year of competing, and more recently in 2015 and 2017.

Belgian squad remained together for entire campaign

This year’s Davis Cup team was anchored by No. 43 Bergs and No. 86 Collignon at singles and also featured 115th-ranked Alexander Blockx at singles, as well as No. 49 Sander Gille and No. 66 Joran Vliegen at doubles. They stayed together as a unit throughout the entire 2025 Davis Cup campaign.

With a 2-0 victory over France coupled with a 2-0 loss to Italy, only Bergs and Collignon saw any action in both ties during the Davis Cup Final 8.

Darcis proud of his team’s effort all season

Team captain Steve Darcis has led the Belgian team since their 2023 World Group I tie against Uzbekistan and has a 6-3 win-loss record as captain.  As a player, he represented Belgium Davis Cup between 2005-2019, compiled a 24-19 overall match win-loss record and was part of the Belgian teams that finished runner-up in 2015 and 2017, playing at least one match at every stage of the World Group draw in both seasons. He is in fourth place for most Davis Cup singles match wins by a Belgian player (23) and is tied for fourth place for most ties played by a Belgian player (25). 

Despite losing in the semifinal round to Italy, Darcis said was proud of his team’s efforts this season. “Yeah, we did an amazing year,” he said during his team’s final news conference in Bologna. “This for sure. Today, I think we are all sad. But the feeling I have now is that I’m so proud of them. 

“They did unbelievable all those ties. Today, we were very close to being at 1-1, and then you never know the doubles. 

“I’m sad today, for sure. Everybody will be sad in the team. But we are very proud of what we did this year. We have a young team and we still have time. Hopefully, we are going to come back a bit stronger in the next years.”

Against France, Collignon defeated Corentin Moutet, 2-6, 7-5, 7-5 and Bergs beat Arthur Rinderknech, 6-3, 7-6 (4), Against Italy, Collignon lost to Matteo Berrettini, 6-3, 6-4, and Bergs fell to Cobolli, 6-3, 5-7 (5), 7-6 (15).

Bergs, 26, said he enjoyed the experience of a playing in a lengthy final-set tie-break against Cobolli – even if the stakes were quite high and filled with plenty of pressure, and ultimately left him in tears.

“I was just laughing so many times on court, smiling to Steve,” Bergs recalled. “Steve was smiling back, realizing what crazy points we were doing in a crazy atmosphere. 

“Yeah, that’s really important for me to enjoy myself. If I enjoy myself, I most likely really play, yeah, the tennis I want to play.

“So, yeah, it is something that needs time and something that maybe I only found this year. I’m 26, and Raphael is 23. He will have some time also to explore the right balance there.”

Collignon looks forward to 2026 Davis Cup season

Collignon said it was “very inspiring” for him to see Bergs fighting against Cobolli, enjoying the atmosphere.

“Yeah, I was maybe thinking why should I do this during the match, why didn’t I enjoy the match We are not playing Davis Cup semifinal every day.

“I think this experience will make me better I think for the future. Of course, coming back with new motivation to try to do more. I think he inspired all the team. We are all very proud of him the way he fought for everybody out there.

“Like he said, we are a very young team. We are going to come back stronger with all this experience we had last year, and especially this tie for me. Let’s see what’s ]coming up in the upcoming year and of course we are motivated for what’s coming next.”

Looking ahead to the 2026 Davis Cup season that begins in February with the Qualifiers, Belgium has been seeded No. 4 and will open at Bulgaria.

 

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