Indian Wells Masters 2024: Neither Zverev nor the bees can beat Alcaraz | Tennis | Sports

For sting, that of Carlos Alcaraz.

This Thursday, in Indian Wells, an episode of science fiction and then, the mess solved, everyone safe, the show. On the same day that Netflix announced that it will launch a docuseries about the Murcian tennis player in 2025, already in progress, the tournament produced a surreal sequence when the quarterfinal duel between the Spaniard and the German Alexander Zverev —6-3 and 6-1 favorable to the first, after 1h 28m—had to be suspended after nine minutes as a result of an invasion of bees. “Play suspended – Bee invasion”decreed the organization. Tennis players, judges and part of the public began to leave through the mouths and the action stopped for two hours when they realized that the cloud of insects had settled in the spidercam —the camera suspended in the air that runs transversally across the court to offer dynamic aerial shots— and attacked some of the attendees, including the tennis player from El Palmar.

However, the world number two not only overcame the offensive and the scare, but he nailed it. Zverev took a sigh. Perhaps inspired by the little animals, by that famous phrase by Drew Bundini Brown, one of Muhammad Ali’s trainers —“Float like a butterfly, sting like a bee; resound, young man, resound”—the Murcian exhibited the most delicious of his repertoire to knock down the giant German, who had defeated him in the last two matches and dominates the face to face, now 5-4, and accepted the huge challenge of the semi-finals. In them he will collide on Saturday with the man of the moment, redheaded, lanky. Without complexes too. Another one out of the ordinary. He does not know the defeat of Jannik Sinner this year and will land in the next chapter undefeated (16-0) and on the back of a fantastic streak. The Italian has not lost since November 19 —Djokovic, Turin, Masters Cup— and with this Thursday’s victory against Jiri Lehecka (double 6-3) he equaled the seventh best start to the season, exclusive until now of Roger Federer ( 2006).

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This superb intervention by Alcaraz will be remembered for the beating of the German, for the arabesques in the maneuvers and the exquisiteness of the blows. But, above all, this March 15 he witnessed the unusual on a tennis court. With 1-1 and 15-0 in his favor, Alcaraz was preparing to serve in the third game, when the threatening cloud of bees that burst into the Coachella Valley—California desert, bare mountains in the background; Tennis Paradise, they call it— suddenly began to prowl around that background and surrounded the player. He immediately realized the situation and tried to protect himself with the racket, by slapping his hands, but he had to immediately take refuge in the locker room after receiving a sting on the forehead. “It’s dangerous!” warned referee Mohamed Lahyani over the public address system. Next, the judges collected their belongings and the bags of both players, and also left the court, waiting for the tournament organization to find a solution to resume the match.

An hour later, a beekeeper made an appearance—surprisingly, without any type of protection, with his company logo screen-printed on his chest, sleeves and back, as the area dictates—and began vacuuming up the hundreds of bees. who had lodged themselves in the structure of the chamber with astonishing tranquility, like someone who knows they are invulnerable. That temper is admirable. Meanwhile, the players were confined to the warm-up area, in the back room of the court; While Zverev was dedicated to giving some touches to the ball, Alcaraz, accompanied by all the members of his team, checked his mobile phone, commented on the anecdote between laughs and did some exercises in anticipation of the organization giving the green light to the game.

An hour and a half after the interruption, the tennis players returned to the court once the beekeeper’s work had finished, but the resumption continued to be delayed because the insects had not completely given up in some areas of the court and the man – already famous throughout the world and, difficult to deny the similarity, twin del Mono Burgos, Atlético’s former goalkeeper and until recently Simeone’s second-in-command—had to intervene again. The extra spray definitively cleared the way and despite Alcaraz’s initial reluctance, still fearful of the possibility of receiving more stings, Lahyani reactivated his pulse in the midst of a complex circumstance in which the Spaniard absolutely prevailed: “Ok, let’s try”. And boy did she try. A real example of concentration.

The setback disfigured Zverev, who as soon as he returned committed a double fault that cost him the break, and in some way freed Alcaraz, energetic, accurate and artist. Demolition Man. Perfect lobs, a forehand winner at 160 km/h, several deep and unreachable passes and an inverted backhand drop shot that suddenly recovered (if that were possible, actually) the master Federer. “I’ve always wanted to play like him,” says the 20-year-old, who sealed his service record with only six errors and gave up the same number of points with the serve; He also bordered on the full score in the conversion (four out of five).

In this optimistic and overwhelming way, having achieved his best performance of the year and raising the tone round by round, he will meet again this Saturday (9:00 p.m., #Vamos) with the infallible Sinner (22 years old), who threatens his second place in the ranking and, like Zverev (26), he has the advantage in his favor (4-3) and defeated him the last two times they met; the closest reference, Beijing, in October. Now, the prodigious Italian bowed in last year’s semifinals on this stage, where he defends the title. It will be the star duel, then. The new saga will add another chapter. At the top of the draw, the American Tommy Paul got rid of Casper Ruud (6-2, 1-6 and 6-3) and will face the Russian Daniil Medvedev (7-5 ​​and 6-4 Holger Rune).

“I CONFUSE THE RIVAL, IT’S MY STYLE”

A. C.

“It’s the first time I’ve seen it and I have to experience it,” Alcaraz said at the end of the match, still surprised by what happened and very satisfied with his increasing level of tennis, despite the abnormality of this chapter.

“We had to stop, see what happened… In the end, that costs a little, but I am very happy with the things I have done in the locker room, in the warm-up before starting again I was very focused. There were more bees that were bothering me, but I started again very seriously, very focused, and I think it was like that the entire game,” he highlighted.

“When we left the track we saw the invasion on television, and we laughed a lot at Mohammed’s words: ‘Bee invasion’, I found it funny. He will be remembered for that, not for tennis or anything else, but for the bees. But it was a great game,” added the Murcian.

Quoted now with Sinner, he noted: “I am very happy with the level at which I am playing and the way I am using the court. It is very important for my game that the opponent does not know what is coming next: it may be inside the court, it may be deeper… It confuses them and it is my style, it is my game and I am happy to do it that way.”