Zizou Bergs: From TikTok to Top 50 in Indian Wells?

ZIzou Bergs is in the middle of a rebrand.

Once the tour’s most prolific TikTok star, the 25-year-old Belgian has moved over to Instagram and is taking a more relaxed approach to social media as he builds towards a Top 50 debut.

“I really like the vibe we’re creating,” Bergs told me in Dubai, his new online persona a collaboration with girlfriend and media marketer Jirth Maesen. “It’s cool, vintage, but also there’s the expressive side of myself. I hope it shows what inspires me, and that it does a decent job of expressing who I really am.”

Bergs, currently at a career-high ranking of No. 53, needed no filter to make a winning debut at the BNP Paribas Open on Wednesday, the culmination of a 52-week rise that began last spring when he pushed Rafael Nadal to three sets at the Internazionali BNL d’Italia.

“When I look back to the match, I don't feel like I gave him too much,” he said at the time. “I think at the end it's still a few points. It's a great battle. Most of the matches are decided by a few points.”

He cracked the Top 100 a month later after reaching the third round of Roland Garros, and brought on new coach Kristof Vliegen as he dedicated the off-season to closing the shrinking gap between himself and his higher-ranked rivals.

“He’s definitely putting some new things in my game plan,” Bergs said of Vliegen, a retired ATP pro and former coach of Tallon Griekspoor. “It’s a matter of time before I integrate everything because he’s taking me out of my comfort zone, but even still, I’m managing to win a lot of matches. So, that’s really positive for me to be actively working on my game but still winning a lot.”

Actively improving, Bergs began 2025 with a runner-up finish at the ASB Classic and followed that up with a run to the semifinals in Open 13 Provence in Marseille, moving up another 20 spots in the ATP rankings in less than two months.

These are the events we were watching from home or on TV, watching the top players facing each other...I’ve needed to realize that I’m almost Top 50 in the world, and I’ve not only earned my place here but I deserve it, too. Nobody gave this place to me. Zizou Bergs

“I’m a bit surprised with myself, with the results,” he told me. “I would have definitely signed before the season started to be playing like this. The good thing is that I’m staying very consistent. If I’m playing guys who are ranked a bit higher or lower than me, I always manage to win. It’s more the top guys I’m losing to at this stage. But that’s great because it means the basic level is really high at this point. We’re obviously trying to upgrade the level to start beating those top guys as well.”

The busy schedule has naturally afforded him less and less time to devote to TikTok, the platform on which he long performed above his on-court ranking.

“We definitely saw [TikTok] as an opportunity to share the life we're having, what it's like to be a tennis player, everything around,” he told me back in Rome.

With his blue eyes and floppy blonde hair, Bergs could easily pass for a Gen Z social media star embracing a tenniscore aesthetic. Amassing nearly 75,000 followers, his light-hearted, innuendo-heavy videos regularly clocked in six-figure view counts.

One video, dedicated to smelling a fresh can of tennis balls, currently has over two million views:

“To be a tennis player is to pretty much be the CEO of your own company,” Bergs explained in Dubai. “I have to make sure everything is in its place and I spend my time doing things as they have to be done. The higher you get, the more things are important to do well. At this level, it’s always a matter of details, and I’m trying to put all those details in the right place. So, I’m spending a bit less time on social media, but that’s a win for me to focus more on things that improve my game.”

Bergs is still going viral, but the Belgian traded his skits for a mix of hot shots and enthusiastic celebrations. The latter nearly got him in trouble last month during a Davis Cup tie when, bounding towards his chair on a change of ends, he accidentally crashed into a nonplussed Cristian Garin.

"Out of excitement at the break, I jumped in the air and I wanted to go fast to the bench, but I made a completely wrong decision to not wait for the opponent to pass,” Bergs said following the match, which Garin ultimately refused to continue.

"I was checking on him, I said sorry to him, to the coach, to the team. It's obviously not what you want, to hurt an opponent.”

The incident may well serve as a reminder to the at-times emotional Bergs, who was on the ATP Challenger level this time last year, that a tennis match is only one take.

“These are the events we were watching from home or on TV, watching the top players facing each other,” Bergs told me. “I guess a lot of players find that adjustment difficult in the beginning. I’ve needed to realize that I’m almost Top 50 in the world, and I’ve not only earned my place here but I deserve it, too. Nobody gave this place to me.”

Perhaps the final phase of the Zizou Bergs rebrand is this realization, that the spotlight he spent years chasing has found him all on its own. The question is: how long can he hold onto it?