The Cincinnati Masters took a turn for bee-zarre on Wednesday after one spectator tried to throw Greek tennis star Stefanos Tsitsipas off his game, loudly “imitating a bee” as he attempted to serve.
While the 25-year-old player made several tries to kick off the point against American player Ben Shelton, he finally reached his breaking point, squashing the woman’s bee with a rat and tattling on the wily spectator.
"Do you think that's OK?" he asked the umpire, visibly irked by the woman’s strange attempt at “hey batter batter swing”-ing him.
“There’s a person imitating a bee behind me”
— Tennis TV (@TennisTV) August 16, 2023
The most bee-zarre thing you’ll see today #CincyTennis @steftsitsipas pic.twitter.com/t2W50fvo51
As the umpire appeared to initially dismiss the tennis icon’s concerns, Tsitsipa took matters into his own hands, heading to the stands to confront the spectator himself.
It’s unclear what, exactly, their exchange entailed, yet it was evidently unsuccessful, the star heading back to the ump’s outpost, still clearly upset.
"It has never happened in my career," Tsitsipa said. "I know they're supporting the [other player]."
“I want her out,” he insisted, a request the umpire finally heeded.
Once free of faux-bee distractions, Tsitsipas went on to win the match, crushing his opponent 7-6 (7-3) 7-6 (7-2).
So take it from this tennis Karen — next time you have courtside seats, you better bee-have, lest you face the wrath of a very hot Greek tennis star.
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