On-court interviewer Jim Courier had apparently got wind of the amusing bet in the house of Thiem and asked the fifth in the world rankings about this in the Rod Laver Arena. "Unfortunately I have to confirm that," said Thiem, grinning, and the audience laughed loudly. "Although I would rather deny it ..."

And Thiem explained how this "tradition" came about: "I had a pretty bad start to last year, had some first round defeats. After a long trip from Rio to Indian Wells, where we all had quite a bit of jet lag, she said: ' If you get the title here, I'll get a tattoo. ' And I actually won it. That's how it started. "

But Courier didn't give up. Whether it was true that the tattoo was always related to the country where he won the title - in the USA it was an eagle feather, in China then a panda ... and whether he had any idea what was going to happen should he win the australian open? Thiem laughed. "It will definitely be a kangaroo."

Thiem now against Nadal for the semi-finals

Thiem's way of getting Mama Karin her tattoo is not exactly easy. Thiem meets the world number one Rafael Nadal on Wednesday - in the direct balance sheet "Rafa" leads with 9: 4. The Spaniard had won the only duel on hard court at the US Open 2018 in one of the games of the year - in the tie break of set five.

Should Thiem win, Alexander Zverev or Stan Wawrinka would stand in the way of the semifinals. And in a possible Australian Open final? Could it be against seven-time winner Novak Djokovic or record Grand Slam champ Roger Federer.

In other words, should Mama Thiem get her kangaroo tattoo, it would be highly deserved ...

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