5 times tennis players were interrupted by insects during their matches ft. Carlos Alcaraz and Naomi Osaka
Tennis, with its fast-paced rallies and intense on-court encounters, demands great focus and attention, with absolutely no time or space to cater to any distractions.
However, amidst the controlled chaos of serves and volleys and undivided attention channeled by the tennis players, there are instances where nature decides to step in and disrupt their encounter.
Different members of the animal kingdom have unexpectedly emerged and been the cause behind major delays and disruptions across different encounters on the tennis court, including a few Grand Slam events.
With that said, let’s take a look at a few such instances where a bunch of insects interrupted the flow of the game on the tennis court:
#5 Frances Tiafoe fake snake prank - Miami Open 2022
During one of Frances Tiafoe's practice sessions at the Miami Open in 2022, one of the coaches decided to prank the American.
Right when Tiafoe moved a few steps back to reach the baseline and got ready to serve, he jumped after seeing a snake right where he would have prepared to serve the ball.
While the World No.18 laughed it off and went right back to his game, the incident translated into a well-appreciated prank on social media.
#4 Andrey Rublev rescues a bug - Australian Open 2024
During a third-round match between World No. 5 Andrey Rublev and World No. 29 Sebastian Korda at the 2024 Australian Open, a bug interrupted an otherwise thrilling tennis match.
In the middle of the first set, Rublev got down on his knees and paused the match while struggling to catch a bug that had found its way onto the tennis court.
The Russian carefully used his hands to get a hold of the bug that seemed to be a hard catch until a ball girl came, helped him with the tricky situation, and moved the creature to the outskirts of the court.
Following this minor disruption, Rublev went on to win the match with a scoreline of 6-2, 7-6(6), 6-4 in a match that lasted for one hour and 59 minutes (including the aforementioned pause).
#3 Naomi Osaka saves a butterfly - Australian Open 2021
Another famous disruption during a tennis match involved celebrated tennis player Naomi Osaka and a butterfly during the Australian Open in 2021.
In a video that went viral and left the viewers awestruck, a butterfly is seen fluttering around Osaka in the middle of her third-round encounter against the Tunisian Ons Jabeur.
The butterfly refused to leave Osake and fluttered around her legs and her face.
The former World No.1 paused the match, meticulously held the butterfly and patiently took it away to the side of the court to keep it away from any possible encounters with the tennis ball.
Osaka went on to win the match, 6-3, 6-2 and received a lot of praise after the video involving her and the butterfly went viral.
She shared the encounter on her Twitter account and many fans heaped her with praises following the gesture:
“Naomi Osaka you are very kind,” wrote a Twitter user.
“The way you treat animals says a lot about your personality,” said another.
“Butterfly gives a thank-you kiss,” said a third fan.
#2 Caroline Wozniacki and flying ants - Wimbledon 2018
A bunch of flying ants disrupted the focus of Caroline Wozniacki during her second-round match at Wimbledon in 2018.
The Danish star was playing against Ekaterina Makarova when a few bugs started flying in front of her face and left the former infuriated.
She asked the umpire to contact the authorities to take action while saying (via The Mirror):
“You want to focus on playing tennis and not eating bugs."
After losing the first set, Wozniacki called for insect spray to keep the bugs away but not much could be done.
Commentator Andrew Castle from the BBC said about the issue during the match:
"There are thousands of these things swirling around the court."
"Wozniacki is not happy with them but there is nothing you can do."
The No. 2 seed did go on to eventually lose the match 4-6, 6-1, 5-7.
#1 Carlos Alcaraz, bee attack - Indian Wells 2024
World No. 2 Carlos Alcaraz was recently stung by a bee during his quarterfinal match against Alexander Zverev at Indian Wells.
Serving in the third game of the match, Alcaraz was attacked by a swarm of bees and while he tried to fight them off using his racquet, the 20-year-old had to eventually run for cover after being stung by one of them.
It took about an hour and 48 minutes for the game to resume after this interruption wherein a beekeeper was called to cater to the situation.
Alcaraz himself was surprised at being able to maintain his form despite the bee attack and went on to win the match 6-3, 6-1.
He said (via Telegraph):
“I couldn’t stay focused on the ball, I was focused on the bees and tried to (keep them) away. That’s why we stopped a few more times before the match began again. After that, we decided to warm up and I saw that the bees weren’t around anymore. I tried not think about them anymore.
“It was a really important game for me. I surprised myself that I stayed focus on the match, not on the bees.”