A “bee invasion” halted play at the BNP Paribas Open tennis tournament in California on Thursday, and video showed the insects swarming over a camera lens and buzzing around players.
“Play has been suspended due to bee invasion,” the open tweeted, including an emoji of a bee.
Video from on-demand Tennis Channel showed bees swarming over a piece of equipment.
Carlos Alcaraz, who was shortly into a match with Alexander Zverev, was seen in the video swatting away the bees, and then backing up and looking around in confusion.
The announcer said there was “a problem with bees here,” and the crowd was heard laughing, before the pause in play was announced.
“Advantage, bees,” the channel said on X.
The BNP Paribas Open, which runs from March 3 to Sunday, is in the quarterfinals stage. It’s being played at at Indian Wells Tennis Garden.
Indian Wells is a city of around 5,000 in the Coachella Valley southwest of Joshua Tree National Park.
The tournament also shared video of a man using a vacuum hose to suck up the bees.
