65-year-old Ivo Lucic collapsed after a tennis match and was successfully resuscitated by first responders for four minutes while he was still on the court. After an operation and a stay in rehabilitation, he is now his old self again and can pursue his passion.
Third set, tie break, final point. “Suddenly someone turned off my lights, everything was black,” recalls Ivo Lucic from Gaflenz. The 65-year-old finished the point and even won the game. After the match point, he congratulated his opponent, sat down on the players’ bench, collapsed there and was half lying on his tennis bag – cardiac arrest! But the pensioner has no memory of any of that. 40 years on the tennis court “My opponent knew it was critical. I didn’t have a pulse anymore,” says Lucic, who has been pursuing his great passion for tennis for 40 years. The pensioner had never had a heart problem before. “I was resuscitated for three to four minutes on the tennis court. They saved me with a defibrillator. After that I know everything again, I was flown to the hospital in Wels by helicopter,” said the 65-year-old Lucic was looked after in the hospital, after which he went to the St. Radegund rehabilitation center in Styria. Lucic was impatiently waiting to finally be able to return to the tennis court. In the meantime, however, he has been able to celebrate his comeback. “The courageous intervention of the first responders saved my life. Luckily I have no after-effects at all,” said the pensioner on Friday morning in an interview with “Krone”. In the afternoon, the fit hobby athlete had a tennis match with his best friend on the agenda…
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