Unruly spectator's bee-haviour unsettles Stefanos Tsitsipas during Cincinnati Masters
Greek ace tennis player Stefanos Tsitsipas encountered a bizarre and once-in-a-career moment during his match with American Ben Shelton in the ongoing Cincinnati Open on Thursday when he was reportedly disrupted by a female spectator imitating a bee.
It began with Tsitsipas flapping his racquet assuming a bee had invaded the court out of nowhere. However, he soon realised that the sound was coming from the stands and that too exactly when he tried to serve. Visibly annoyed with the entire ordeal, a disgruntled Tsitsipas walked towards the umpire and told, "There is a person imitating a bee behind me."
It’s a buzz right before I serve. Do you think that’s okay?" he added.
The 25-year-old then approached the spectators sitting right behind him to enquire about the noise. One of the spectators gestured towards a lady sitting in the stands to suggest to the tennis star that she was the one producing the weird noise and disrupting the entire flow of the game.
Watch the video of the incident:
Tsitsipas went back to the umpire and told, "It has never happened in my career. I know they’re supporting the other player. It’s the lady over there, I want her out. She needs to go."
The Greek star overcame the distraction and dropped merely three points to pip Shelton 7-6(3) 7-6(2) in the round of 32 and went on to beat Poland's Hubert Hurkacz 6-3 6-4 in the clash that followed.
"We didn’t play a lot of rallies today, which was difficult to get into the rhythm. He was serving big today, he wasn’t giving me a lot to work with and I had to hang in there, wait for my chances," said Tsitsipas after the game against Shelton.
Cincinnati Open will serve as a preparatory ground for the US Open that starts on Monday, August 28.
