THE TENNIS COURT WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO: IGUANA INVADES HAAS VS. VESELY MATCH IN MIAMI

Written by: Staff on 23rd March 2017

THE TENNIS COURT WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO: IGUANA INVADES HAAS VS. VESELY MATCH IN MIAMI |

Photo by Ricky Dimon

The tennis court with the dragon tattoo: Iguana invades Haas vs. Vesely match in Miami

By Ricky Dimon

Fans crammed into Court 1 to witness what turned to be Tommy Haas’ last match at the Miami Open on Wednesday.

The crowd included more than just humans, too.

An unusually large iguana immersed itself in the festivities with Haas serving at 3-3 in the final set, first appearing on the scoreboard to the chair umpire’s left. It was not, of course, doing any harm. But simply sitting there was enough to delay the match.

“It’s a big one,” the chair umpire said at one point, adding that “it’s not a dangerous animal.”

Photo by Ricky Dimon

“I cannot concentrate,” Vesely explained.

After dodging multiple capture attempts, the iguana eventually scurried across the court, climbed onto the other scoreboard, and tried–unsuccessfully–to jump over a fence behind the baseline. It was finally caught and taken away after seven minutes of fame.

“Maybe the iguana got the note that this is most likely the last time I’m playing here, and he wanted to say ‘Hi’ and take a peek or something,” Haas joked during his post-match press conference. “I don’t know, but it was pretty cool. Of that size, I don’t think I’ve ever experienced that. I don’t know where he came from and why he wanted to come out on Court 1 and kind of say hello to everyone.”

Haas said hello, himself, by taking a selfie with the iguana as it was perched atop one of the scoreboards.

Photo by Ricky Dimon

“It was fun,” the 38-year-old German admitted. “I thought that’s an interesting picture to take. I don’t think it’ll ever happen again, to be honest…especially in my career–because it’s almost over, anyway. It’s nice for him to stop by. Good-looking iguana.”

The rest of the match was not as good for Haas, who ended up falling to Vesely 6-7(5), 6-3, 7-5 after two hours and 36 minutes. The veteran assured that this would be his last visit to Miami as a player. He plans on playing this summer on clay and grass before mulling retirement.

Haas, now the tournament director of the Indian Wells Masters, will focus on those duties when he calls it quits on his career later in 2017.

As the iguana might tell Haas: “You say goodbye, and I say hello.”