It was an eventful first round match for Tommy Haas against Jiri Vesely at the Miami Open on Wednesday, with a surprise reptilian visitor popping into the court.
An iguana took to the court, right before Haas go ready to serve in the seventh game of the deciding set with the scores reading three-all in the set. Even as the lizard delayed the on-court proceedings, Haas found a handy couple of minutes to take a selfie of himself with the iguana, perched atop the on-court scoreboard, in the background. He later shared the photo on his official social media pages.
The German, who eventually lost the match 6-7(5), 6-3, 7-5, also gave a light-hearted explanation for his interaction with the iguana. “I don’t know, maybe the iguana got to know this is probably the last time I am playing here [in Miami] so may be wanted to say hello.”
The 38-year-old Haas, who was handling duties as the tournament director at Indian Wells last week, is playing his last season on the Pro Tour. He is currently competing in tournaments using his protected ranking.
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