Deadly snake holds up Dominic Thiem match as he performs Houdini-esque Great Escape at Brisbane International

Dominic Thiem had to battle two potential deadly opponents during his qualifying match at the Brisbane International as he performed a Great Escape not only from James McCabe, but also a deadly snake.

The former US Open champion was facing McCabe and he saved three match points before prevailing 2-6, 7-6(3), 6-4. He could yet face Rafael Nadal in the opening round, with the Spaniard set to face a qualifier as was confirmed last night.

But he was also helped out by the interruption as a snake was spotted courtside by fans while Thiem was under the gun. Security staff were called in and the umpire had to stop play. A snake catcher eventually had to remove it from the venue and it seemed to capture the potential of a McCabe upset as Thiem came back to win from there.

Read also

ATP DRAW 2024 Brisbane International featuring return of Rafael NADAL, Holger RUNE and Ben SHELTON

“I really love animals, especially exotic ones,” Thiem said. “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. He [McCabe] was playing very well. He was serving extremely well I thought ... it was a good win in the end.”

Read also

ATP PREVIEW 2024 Brisbane International as Spanish king Rafael NADAL returns alongside Holger RUNE, Grigor DIMITROV and Ben SHELTON

Brisbane International

@BrisbaneTennis

·Follow

The Great Escape 🪄 @domithiem miraculously comes back from 2-6, 3-5, 0-40 down against James McCabe to progress to the final round of qualifying, 2-6, 7-6(4), 6-4 😲 #BrisbaneTennis

607

Reply

Copy link

Read 9 replies