As of: March 16, 2024, 9:47 p.m
By: Luca Hartmann
Comments
Press
Split
In the quarterfinals of the tennis tournament in Indian Wells, top stars Alexander Zverev and Carlos Alcaraz have to pause their match.
It's a special kind of interruption in the game.
Indian Wells – It is probably the strangest game interruption that the German top player Alexander Zverev and Spain's superstar Carlos Alcaraz will ever experience in their tennis careers.
In their quarterfinals at the prestigious Tennis Masters tournament in Indian Wells, America, the match had to be stopped for almost two hours because of animal visitors.
Bees cause a strange interruption of the game in Zverev's match against Alcaraz
When the score was 1:1 in the first set, a swarm of bees suddenly moved across the court and made itself at home on the so-called spider cam, the television camera above the court.
In pictures and videos from the organizer and on social media you can see how thousands of the animals attach themselves to the camera.
Sky commentator Yannick Erkenbrecher said when the extent of it became apparent: “These are images like in a horror film.”
Alcaraz in particular is surprised by the animals and even gets stung on the forehead.
After a few minutes, the Spaniard escapes into the cabin.
“I'm not going to lie, I'm a little afraid of bees.
I thought it was just a few.
But I looked up at the sky and there were thousands upon thousands, stuck in my hair and flying towards me.
It was crazy,” explains Alcaraz after the game, adding: “It was definitely the most unusual match I have ever played in my career.”
Alexander Zverev (left) and Carlos Alcaraz (2nd from left) watched with amusement as specialist Lance Davis removed the bees from a camera.
© IMAGO / ZUMA Wire and IMAGO / Icon Sportswire
Beekeeper removes bees – and is celebrated by fans
The celebrated man of the day was Lance Davis.
The beekeeper, who specializes in such cases with his company Killer Bee Live Removal, collected the bees with his bare hands and a special machine and released them elsewhere.
He then sprayed some kind of insect spray around the place.
“It was a small swarm of around 3,500 bees,” said Davis about his rescue operation – which brought him unexpected fame.
Even in the stadium, the American had to pose for many selfies with fans who celebrated him for his action.
Alcaraz and Zverev also applauded him when he removed the bees.
He was then celebrated on social media.
The swarm of bees made themselves comfortable at a camera above the square.
© Mark J. Terrill/AP/dpa
My news
Swiss Schumi neighbors unpack: read “He stayed among us”.
Michael Schumacher: This is known about his state of health – read “No longer the Michael from before”.
Ten years after Michael Schumacher's accident: Brother Ralf honors sister-in-law Corinnalesen
Second basketball player from Ukraine dies after knife attack in Oberhausen
This is how Steiner feels after reading the neck punch
Mourning for German gymnast: young hopeful dies unexpectedly
Even tennis legend Boris Becker reacted to the strange interruption of the game during the match.
“I have never seen anything like this in my 39 years of tennis.
Unbelievable,” the 56-year-old wrote on the
X
platform .
After the bee invasion: Zverev clearly fails at Alcaraz
After the bees were finally removed, there was nothing for Zverev to gain against the world number two.
Alcaraz dominated the game at will and finally clearly secured a place in the semi-finals with 6:3, 6:1.
There the 20-year-old will face Australian Open champion Jannik Sinner - this time hopefully without a bee invasion.
While Zverev has to deal with bees on the court, another German tennis star will soon be a mother for the first time.
(LuHa)