Another incident where an animal interrupts a game occurred at the ongoing Miami Open Masters Tournament. A cat was seen roaming around the court during a round of 128 matchup.
Venus Williams was up against Russia’s Diana Shnaider in the 1R matchup of the Miami Masters tournament. Venus has had a rough patch lately as she has been facing early exits for the last 3 tournaments that she played in.
The same was the case for this one as the younger Williams sister lost to Diana in two straight sets on a scoreline of 6-3, 6-3.
The battle between the two looked pretty straightforward in the favour of the Russian. However, there was an interesting incident that unfolded during the second set.
While Williams was up a game in the second set, a cat appeared around the court out of nowhere. This interrupted Williams’ serve and the referee called for a halt in the match until the cat was shown the exit from the court.
The cat caught the eyes of everyone present on the court as well as the stands. Even the commentators at Grandstand couldn’t refuse to call it “cute” in their statement.
"Let, replay the point. There is a cat crossing the court." 😂#MiamiOpen pic.twitter.com/Tt4cV42Cxe
— Tennis Channel (@TennisChannel) March 19, 2024
The ref said, “Let, replay the point. There is a cat crossing the court,” while halting the play for a minute.
This was the second time the play was interrupted by an animal/ insect invading the courts in the same month after the Indian Wells Final game was also paused due to the bees invasion.
When “Iggy the Iguana” interrupted a Miami Open matchup 6 years ago
A similar incident occurred when an Iguana wandered off from his natural habitat and found his way into the courts of the Miami Open in 2017.
During the final set between Jiri Vesely and Tommy Haas, an Iguana climbed on the scoreboard that was kept just beside the court. Terrified by it, Jiri wanted to stop the match until the Iguana situation was taken care of.
However, Haas was pretty chill about the incident and was even seen taking a selfie with the intruder Iguana. Later, when the Iguana made it to the court, Haas even chased behind it.
The whole incident is remarkably one of the weirdest moments in the history of the Miami Open and Tennis.
