The viral clip of an jap brown snake invading the Brisbane International has America satisfied Australians are utterly nuts.
The tennis world was left in a spin after the snake instantly appeared in the course of former world No. 3 Dominic Thiem‘s qualifying match against Australian James McCabe on Saturday.
Stream Over 50 Sports Live & On-Demand with Kayo. New to Kayo? Start Your Free Trial Today >
The encounter was brought to a standstill for around 40 minutes after the snake slithered courtside.
McCabe had just wrapped up the first set 6-2 against the 2020 US Open champion when the reptile was spotted among electrical wires on the side of the court in front of spectators.
Play was halted until a snake catcher arrived and managed to tease it into a bag.
New footage of the incident has emerged, showing the crowd barely flinched as the drama unfolded.
Leading tennis journalist Ben Rothenberg summed up the reaction on X, formerly known as Twitter.
The delay and slithery friend worked in the favour of Thiem as the Austrian star turned things around, saving three match points at 3-5 in the second set before winning it 7-4 in a tie-break.
That doesn’t imply he loved it.
I actually love animals, particularly unique ones,” Thiem stated 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.”
Thiem went on to seal the end result within the third set as he ran away to assert the ultimate set 6-2.
After being among the many worlds greatest, Thiem has endured a torrid run of accidents that noticed his rating tumble to outdoors the highest 300.
He has begun the climb again up the rankings, at present sitting at 98 on the standings. He’ll be pressured to enter qualifying for the opening Grand Slam of the yr on the Australian Open.
Elsewhere on the Brisbane International, Rafael Nadal prevented assembly a seed first up at his comeback match after drawing a qualifier.
The 37-year-old Spaniard has been out of the sport for nearly 12 months following hip surgical procedure after the 2023 Australian Open in January.
It was feared that Nadal, the winner of twenty-two Grand Slam singles titles, would by no means play professionally once more.
However, he has fought his means again and was granted a wildcard to the season-opening Brisbane International in preparation for the primary Grand Slam of the yr at Melbourne Park starting January 14.
If Nadal advances, he’ll play eighth-seeded Karatsev or Australian wildcard Jason Kubler within the second spherical, with fourth seed Ugo Humbert lurking as a possible quarter-final opponent.
Britain’s Andy Murray drew second-seeded Bulgarian Grigor Dimitrov in an intriguing first-round conflict.
Murray is a two-time winner of the Brisbane International, and beat Dimitrov within the closing in 2013.
In the ladies’s draw, four-time Grand Slam champion Naomi Osaka shall be pitted towards Germany’s world quantity 84 Tamara Korpatsch within the opening spherical as she makes her extremely anticipated return.
The Japanese star, who gave beginning to daughter Shai in July and has beforehand struggled together with her psychological well being, has not performed since September 2022.
If she sees off Korpatsch, she is going to face three-time Brisbane champion Karolina Pliskova within the second spherical.
World quantity two Aryna Sabalenka obtained a primary spherical bye.
– with AFP
Source: www.news.com.au
