Deadly brown snake interrupts Dominic Thiem match at Brisbane International

Former US Open champion Dominic Thiem faced two Australian opponents in the first round of qualifying for the Brisbane International, a deadly snake forcing play to be suspended.

The former world number three faced young Australian James McCabe on Saturday, with the Austrian veteran saving three match points before winning 2-6 7-6 (7-4) 6-4.

Thiem, 30, was under pressure in the second set when fans courtside spotted the snake.

Security personnel were called, but the referee had to temporarily stop play when the ball slipped onto the pitch.

A snake catcher eventually captured the reptile – a deadly 20-inch oriental brown – and removed it from the venue, allowing play to resume.

“I really like animals, especially exotic animals,” Thiem said after the match.

“But they said it was a really venomous snake and it was close to the ball boys, so it was a really dangerous situation.

Thiem was down at 3-5, 0-40 on McCabe’s serve.

But he saved all three match points and forced a tie-break before finally prevailing to move within one win of the main draw.

“He (McCabe) played very well. He served extremely well, I think… it was a good win in the end,” Thiem said.

Thiem reached the Australian Open final in 2020 by pushing champion Novak Djokovic to five sets, and won the US Open later that year.

The Austrian also knocked out local prospect Nick Kyrgios in the third round at Melbourne Park in 2021 but his career has fallen into freefall due to a troublesome wrist injury and flagging confidence.

Thiem has only reached the second round of a Grand Slam tournament once since, getting past the first round at Flushing Meadows this year.

At one point his ranking fell outside the top 300, but he has climbed back up to world number 98.

Thiem will be relying on late withdrawals to avoid qualifying for the Australian Open, after missing the main draw cut-off by one place.

PAA