Dominic Thiem defeated James McCabe in the Brisbane International qualifying match, however play was halted by a very deadly snake.
The snake was sighted close to the courtside electrical wires, which set up Australian McCabe for a set against former US Open winner Thiem.
Play was interrupted for forty minutes as a qualified snake catcher carefully removed the critter.
“I really love animals, especially exotic ones,” Thiem said afterwards. “But they said it was a really poisonous snake and it was close to the ball kids, so it was a really dangerous situation.”
“It’s something that has never happened to me and is something I’ll definitely never forget.” The snake, which was about 50 centimetres in length, was recognised as an extremely deadly eastern brown snake.
After the break, Thiem bounced back to win 2-6 7-6 (7-4) 6-4 and move on to the second and last round of Brisbane International qualifying.
The Austrian, who has struggled with injuries and dropped to 98th in the global rankings, is also anticipated to participate in the Australian Open qualifying draw, which gets underway on January 14.
On Sunday, Rafael Nadal, the former world number one, will make his comeback in Brisbane by playing a doubles match with Marc Lopez.
The 22-time Grand Slam champion has been recuperating since June following surgery for a hip issue.
After taking a maternity vacation, Naomi Osaka is making a comeback to tennis in the women’s draw. against Monday, she takes against Tamara Korpatsch.—AFP
