VIDEO. A bee infestation disrupts a tennis match at the Indian Wells Masters 1,000, Alcaraz and Zverev must take shelter

The bees forced the players to suspend the match for two hours. MAXPPP – JOHN G. MABANGLO

This Thursday, March 14, bees invaded one of the courts of the Indian Wells tennis tournament in the United States, forcing the defending champion Carlos Alcaraz and Alexander Zverev, then in the middle of a match, to take action # 39;s shelter for almost two hours.

It was an unusual scene, to say the least, witnessed by spectators of the tennis match between Alexander Zverev and Carlos Alcaraz, at the Masters 1000 Tournament in Indian Wells, in the United States, this Thursday March 15: hundreds of bees invaded the court on which the match was held. 

The Spaniard and his German opponent, who were playing their quarter-final, were only two games in when the game was interrupted "due to a bee invasion", as described by the referee chair by Mohamed Lahyani.

"Never seen anything like this"

Alcaraz's agent Albert Molina told Spanish radio station Cadena Cope during the break that the Spanish tennis player had been stung in the forehead "but it's okay". The player said he had never seen anything like it on a tennis court.

Hope he's charging extra for today's services 😆#TennisParadise pic.twitter.com/FJV4pwFzTo

— Tennis TV (@TennisTV) March 14, 2024

The game was able to resume almost two hours later thanks to the acclaimed intervention of Lance Davis, a local bee expert, whom the fascinated spectators were able to observe in the process of & #39;use a special vacuum cleaner to evacuate the bees clustered on the "spidercam", a remote-controlled camera suspended above the court.

Hunted with spray

Armed with a spray, the specialist then got rid of the remaining bees at the scoreboards, the courtside seats, the tennis players' equipment or still from certain sections of the stands, indulging in selfies and hugs with the public.

The game resumed, the winner of the 2023 edition of the tournament won against Zverev, 6-3, 6-1, thus qualifying for the semi-finals. This is not the first time that a major tennis match has been disrupted by bees.

During the WTA 1000 tournament in Guadalajara, Mexico in 2022, a match between Petra Kvitova and Bernarda Pera was delayed by a swarm attached to the referee's chair.