A tennis match involving Carlos Alcaraz and Alexander Zverev at Indian Wells was paused after a massive group of bees chased the players off the court in their quarter-final match.
In the early part of the third game, Alcaraz was seen swinging his racket wildly as the insects surrounded him while he was getting ready to serve.
The strange moment initially caused laughter from the audience in California, but the match was soon stopped in one of the most unusual suspensions in recent memory.
‘Ladies and gentlemen, we are surrounded by bees here,’ the chair umpire declared. ‘Play is paused, play cannot continue.’
The unexpected arrival ultimately led Alcaraz and Zverev to leave the court, with spectators also going inside to avoid getting stung.
A remarkable photo showed the bees completely covering the ‘spider cam’ that moves across the court during the match.
At the time of writing, the match had been stopped for nearly 40 minutes as officials desperately tried to address the unexpected issue.
More details to come
