Stefanos Tsitsipas entered the Cincinnati tournament perfectly by defeating American Ben Shelton (7-6, 7-6) before facing Robert Hurkacz on Thursday. But during his confrontation, the Greek experienced an unusual misadventure. The fourth-ranked player in the world was about to serve in the second set when a bee on the court seemed to disturb him. Tsitsipas then waved his racket to make the insect go away before realizing that it was not a bee… but someone in the audience imitating its noise in the gallery.
The Greek immediately went to see the referee to tell him that someone was deliberately trying to disturb him. Returning to the baseline, Tsitsipas wanted to put an end to the hoax himself. He introduced himself to the spectators in the front row before addressing them: “Who is it? “. After a short exchange, he returned to see the referee.
“I’ve never seen this in my entire career!” the player said, both amused and annoyed. “I know they support the other player,” he added before addressing Shelton who came to the net. “They imitate a bee by going bzzzz. That’s the woman over there, I want her out.” The referee then replied, “I’ll tell her” but Tsitsipas, unsatisfied, insisted, “She has to come out.”
Tsitsipas did not insist and on returning to his camp was able to exchange a few words with the woman pointed to in the front row. She apologized flatly and the game was able to resume.
