A tennis match between Carlos Alcaraz and Alexander Zverev at Indian Wells was suspended after an enormous swarm of bees chased the players off the court in their quarter-final clash.
Early in the third game of the contest, Alcaraz was seen wildly swinging his racket as the insects surrounded him as he prepared to serve.
The bizarre moment initially drew laughs from the crowd in California but the action was soon called to a halt amid one of the most bizarre match suspensions in recent memory.
‘Ladies and gentleman we are surrounded by bees here,’ chair umpire Mohamed Lahyani, who was also under attack, announced. ‘Play is paused, play cannot continue.’
The unexpected arrival eventually forced Alcaraz and Zverev to run off the court with spectators also seen heading inside to avoid getting stung.
One remarkable photo showed the bees covering ‘spider cam’ that glides across the court during the action.
At the time of writing, play had been halted for almost 40 minutes as officials desperately tried to deal with the unexpected problem.
More to follow
