The tennis coach father-in-law of Britain’s Andy Murray has suggested a “dodgy” piece of sushi was behind his dramatic collapse at last month’s Australian Open.
There were fears that Nigel Sears had suffered a heart attack when he lay immobile courtside in Melbourne three weeks ago.
The 58-year-old Sears, the coach of 2008 French Open champion Ana Ivanovic, was taken to the nearby Epworth Hospital for treatment
Murray, whose wife Kim Sears was heavily pregnant at the time, was playing on the neighbouring court unaware of the emergency, and he rushed to see his father-in-law in hospital after coming off court.
“I just want to let everyone who was concerned know that the doctors have assured me my heart is absolutely fine,” Sears said.
“Quite honestly my timing could not have been worse, with Kim being just a few days away from giving birth. One thing I am really grateful for is that nothing about my collapse got through to Andy, who was playing just a matter of yards away on Margaret Court Arena,” Sears said.
Sears believed an allergic reaction to some sushi he had for lunch may have been behind his collapse.
“I had sushi for lunch ten days in a row in Melbourne and was fine. But I suppose the law of averages dictates, you get one dodgy bit of raw fish in that time,” he said.
Sears’s collapse interrupted Ivanovic’s match against the USA’s Madison Keys, which the Serb eventually lost after winning the first set and leading 3-0 in the third.
British tennis star Murray, eventually made it to the final only to lose to Novak Djokovic.
