Tennis star Dominic Thiem’s opening qualfying round at the Brisbane International tournament on Saturday was anything but routine – the 30-year-old Austrian came close to losing his match against Australian James McCabe, which was interrupted by a snake slithering onto the court.
“I really love animals, especially exotic ones,” former US Open champion Thiem told the Brisbane International website. “But they said it was a really poisonous snake and it was close to the ballkids, so it was a really dangerous situation.
“It’s something that has never happened to me and is something I’ll definitely never forget.”
According to the ATP website, the eastern brown snake made its way onto court at the end of the first set, and a snake catcher was required to remove it.
The eastern brown snake is the cause of “more deaths from snake bite than any other species of snake in Australia,” according to the Australian Museum website.
The species of snake is widespread “throughout eastern Australia … and frequently encountered on the suburban periphery of many large towns and cities,” said the Australian Museum on its website.
“What the snake lacks in venom delivery it makes up for in potency … successful envenomation can result in progressive paralysis and uncontrollable bleeding.”
At one stage of the match, the 20-year-old McCabe held a 6-2 5-3 40-0 lead over Thiem and looked to be on the verge of stunning the former world No. 3 and securing his first top-100 win.
But Thiem, who is now No. 98 in the world rankings, survived three match points and recovered to claim a 2-6 7-6(4) 6-4 victory after a two-hour, 53-minute match against McCabe at the Queensland Tennis Centre.
“It was a good win in the end,” Thiem told the Brisbane International website. “He was playing very well. He was serving extremely well I thought.
“Wins like today are really important. I didn’t feel amazing on court, but still pulled out the win.”
