Wimbledon champion Carlos Alcaraz was stung when bees swarmed onto the court in his quarter-final at Indian Wells against Alexander Zverev.
While the Spaniard made light work of Zverev, beating him 6-3, 6-1 to book his place in the last four, he came off second best against the on-court invaders.
Alcaraz was stung on the forehead amid the swarm of bee invasion leading umpire Mohamed Lahyani to suspend play early in the opening set. The match was delayed by more than an hour and a half.
Afterwards, Alcaraz said: “For sure, the most unusual match I have ever played in my career. I saw some bees around but I thought it was just a few of them.
“But I saw the sky and there were thousands flying, stuck in my hair, going to me. It was crazy. I tried to stay away from them but it was impossible. I’m a little bit afraid of them. I had to stay safe, and I was running everywhere.”
The bees took a particular delight to the overhead Spidercam and had to be removed by a beekeeper once players, officials and spectators had been vacated.
Alcaraz’s win sets up a semi-final clash against Australian Open champion Jannik Sinner.
