2024-03-15 08:34:10
The quarter-final of the Masters 1000 at Indian Wells had to be stopped on Thursday March 14, time to get rid of a swarm of aggressive bees which had invaded the stadium.
A swarm that sows chaos. While tennis player Carlos Alcaraz was preparing, Thursday, March 14, to serve during his quarter-final of the Masters 1000 at Indian Wells in the United States against Alexander Zverev, he looked up in disbelief. Bees circle around him, preventing him from concentrating. “I saw bees around me, but I thought there were only a few, not too many,” he commented after the match. But I saw the sky and thousands of bees were flying, sticking to my hair, heading towards me. It was madness. I tried to get away from them, but it was impossible.”
From the top of his chair, the referee is also targeted. “We are invaded by bees, the game cannot continue, a break is necessary now,” he hastened to communicate to the public. Next to him, Carlos Alcaraz tries to scare away the insects with his racket. Stung on the forehead, he asks for a towel to protect himself and runs to the locker room.
Quickly, hundreds of bees gathered on the “spidercam”, this camera which circulates above the court thanks to a system of cables. The break ultimately lasted an hour and 45 minutes. A beekeeper had to intervene to resolve the situation, swallowing the insects with a vacuum cleaner.
“I couldn’t concentrate on the ball”
Carlos Alcaraz spotted the bees during the warm-up. “When we entered the field there were a few bees in the area, it bothered us. We couldn’t start playing again. When we decided to warm up a little to see how things were going, I hit a few balls and I saw bees around me,” he said after the match. Despite everything, it is decided to start the match. “I couldn’t focus on the ball, I was focusing on the bees and trying to get them away.”
When the match finally resumed, the defending champion and world number two did not give Alexander Zverev the slightest chance. He won in two completely controlled sets (6-3, 6-1). Carlos Alcaraz deployed his full range. An exceptional service (79% first serves), 4 break points won out of 5, 17 winning shots for only 6 unforced errors. An impressive match where he only had 8 second serves to perform. The semi-final could be more contested since he falls against the Italian Jannik Sinner, still undefeated in 2024 (16 victories in a row).
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