Moment Greek tennis star Stefanos Tsitsipas confronts a woman in the audience who imitates a bee to keep him off his stroke every time he serves… but he still wins the match
- Spectator caught imitating a bee by Stefanos Tsitsipas just before serving
A woman has apologized after being confronted by Stefanos Tsitsipas for imitating a bee during a bizarre incident during his match at the Cincinnati Masters.
The Greek, 25, was preparing to serve when he heard a strange buzzing noise around him.
He then comically tried to swat away what he thought was a bee, before preparing to serve again.
He paused again, before realizing the sound was coming from someone behind him in the crowd.
He walked to the center of the court and said to the referee, ‘There is a person imitating a bee behind me. It’s a buzz right before I serve.
“Are you okay with that?”
The referee assured Tsitsipas that he would settle the matter, but the Greek star decided to take matters into his own hands by moving to the area of the crowd where he had heard the buzz.
He asked who made the noise – with an onlooker pointing directly at a woman in the front row.
The world number four – who was drafted number one at the time – went back to the umpire – who asked if he knew who it was.
A stunned Tsitsipas then replied, “It’s never happened in my career. I know they support the (other player).’
His American opponent Ben Shelton came to the net and said, ‘What happened? Do they speak to you?’
Tsitsipas explained, “No, they imitate a bee, they buzz ‘bzzz’.”
Turning back to the umpire, he said, “It’s the lady over there. I want her out. She has to go.’
The umpire then assured Tsitsipas that he would resolve the situation by asking the lady to stop.
The Greek, 25, was preparing to serve when he heard a strange buzzing noise around him. He then comically tried to swat away what he thought was a bee, before preparing to serve again. He walked to the center of the court and said to the referee, ‘There is a person imitating a bee behind me.
The woman responsible for the noise (pictured bottom right of the front row wearing visor and sunglasses) was confronted by Tsitsipas after the Greek approached the match referee. Strangely enough, the woman then seemed to apologize profusely
Oddly enough, the woman then appeared to apologize profusely and raised her hand several times after being approached by the 25-year-old.
Tsitsipas defeated crowd favorite Shelton 7-6 (7-3) 7-6 (7-2) to advance to the last 16 of the Cincinnati Masters, where he will face Hubert Hurkacz on Thursday.
It follows a similar incident at the 2023 Australian Open when Novak Djokovic called for a rowdy tennis fan to be evicted from the Rod Laver Arena after he was constantly harassed during his second round match.
Djokovic told the umpire that the spectator tried to ‘get into my head’ during the tiebreak.
“That man has gone crazy, from the first moment he challenged me,” he said. “He’s not here to watch tennis. He just wants to get inside my head.’
Djokovic also asked the umpire: ‘What are you going to do about it? Why don’t you get security to get him out of the stadium?’
A security guard then spoke to a group of fans dressed as Where’s Wally to try and calm things down.
But the hecklers didn’t distract Djokovic, who would go on to win the title, as he incidentally defeated Tsitsipas in straight sets for his 22nd major crown.