Hard to bee-lieve: Invasion of bees disrupts tennis tournament

A quarterfinal match at the 2024 BNP Paribas Open on Thursday was postponed indefinitely, not due to weather, but a swarm of bees.

The bees interrupted the highly anticipated quarterfinals match between Carlos Alcaraz and Alexander Zverev. Alcaraz’s manager, Albert Molina, tells LWOS that Alcaraz was stung on the forehand by one of the bees. Mohamed Lahyani, the chair umpire of the match, was also stung.

Portions of Stadium 1 had to be evacuated in order to accommodate beekeepers brought in to handle the situation.

A different match continued in Stadium 2, where Coco Gauff, one of two remaining American women in the tournament, faced Yue Yuan from China.