Rising tennis star Zizou Bergs to miss out on grass season after forgetting to register

Belgian tennis player Zizou Bergs made an impressive Grand Slam debut last week, reaching the third round at Roland Garros. It even surprised the 25-year-old himself, so much so that he forgot to register for the upcoming grass season.

Bergs described his experience at the French Open as "living in a dream". He won five matches in Paris, including against Alejandro Tabilo, currently ranked 24th in the ATP world. Bergs was knocked out in the third round last weekend by world number 10 Grigor Dimitrov.

His performance has earned him a place in the top 100 of the next ATP rankings and a possible ticket to this summer's Olympic Games in Paris. Bergs remains ambitious: "This was just the beginning," he said. "I'm on my way to the next level."

A costly mistake

But in all the excitement, he forgot to register for the upcoming grass season tournaments, so he will be unable to play in his favourite part of the season. Bergs says he will still travel there to train and see if he can play.

"It's certainly a bad mark on my report card," he told Le Soir. "I'll have to hope for a wild card in Rosmalen and go to tournaments like Queens or Halle as a reserve. That's the only way, because I'm not even allowed to participate in the qualifiers."

The mistake is a costly lesson for Bergs, who will miss out on potential ranking points and prize money.

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