Wednesday’s match between Jiri Vesely and Tommy Haas at the Miami Open was interrupted by the appearance of an iguana on the edge of the court. Seriously.
Just after a game was completed in the third set, Vesely started complaining after noticing an iguana hanging out above an electronic scoreboard.
Video of the iguana running across the court at the Miami Open (cc @FortyDeuceTwits) pic.twitter.com/RE0uSNp6Xa
— Jonathan Tannenwald (@jtannenwald) March 22, 2017
The umpire and players could be heard discussing strategies on how to remove the creature:
Match interrupted because of the # iguana #miamiopen @MiamiOpen pic.twitter.com/el4yUnnNqs
— luciahoff (@luciahoff) March 22, 2017
Haas came over to the other side of the court and tried to take a selfie with the reptile:
Haas gets a selfie with the Iguana this is insane ! pic.twitter.com/nJhjNTW6KU
— Joe C (@ProdigyRep) March 22, 2017
The crowd cheered as Haas took the selfie, while the Tennis Channel announcers went wild. Officials allowed Haas to take the photo but then made sure he put his phone away because you’re not supposed to have them out during matches.
The iguana was eventually knocked down from its perch and scrambled onto the court, but it was later cleared away.
We’ve seen sports contests interrupted by animals before (this comes to mind), but this iguana situation seemed unique.
