When they tell you that a tennis match is being played in the desert, you, a passionate fan, think about everything except that it might be interrupted due to rain. Yet this is what happened in Indian Wells, during the key match of the tournament, the most awaited match: the one between the two emerging youngsters and candidates for Novak Djokovic’s world crown, namely Jannik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz.
Their match had just begun, three games long (2-1 in favor of Sinner) and here Giove Pluvio decides to enter the scene. It’s true that March is a crazy month, but in California, in 2024, there’s a lot going on. And even a little sensational. Then, it won’t be his fault, but Carlos Alcaraz is always inside – the protagonist despite himself.
The other day, in fact, during his quarter-final against the German Alexander Zverev, the match was interrupted: the reason for the invasion of a swarm of bees which, in human memory, had never been seen on a tennis court . Not even those of the bachelor and married clubs. There were something – they say – like 350 thousand bees. The match was suspended for two hours and, while Zverev remained immaculate (were the bees afraid to sting him?), Alcaraz actually got one on the forehead and then ran away («First I saw one as I was about to serve, then another couple and then nothing was understood anymore”).
In short, this edition of Indian Wells 2024 will be remembered in some way: in fact the show was no longer the match itself but Mr. Davis, also known as the man with the aspirator who was urgently summoned: he put something in his bin like a few thousand bees (“So we can save them and clean up the location: then we take them to special hives”).
Instead, yesterday Sinner and Alcaraz found themselves having to face the unexpected, the unexpected anomaly. Twenty-five minutes of an initial stop, before the tournament director – Tommy Haas – gave the approval (together with the judges, naturally) for the continuation of the match. Then, new heating and new copious drops that made the bottom of the pitch slippery and impassable.
It looked like a scene from a clay tournament, like Rome so to speak, when the idiot arrives and forces you to take shelter in a hurry. But this is also the beauty of tennis, this too (which is part of the imponderable) has allowed pages of history to be written: who remembers Isner-Mahut? The first, American, also number 8 in the world. The second, French, is better known for being a doubles specialist, so much so that he even became number one. Well, thanks to the rain – during Wimbledon 2010 – they made history by playing the longest tennis match ever: 11 hours and 5 minutes, split over 3 days.
This fear probably didn’t occur to Sinner and Alcaraz, also because the rainfall in California is not the same as London, so they experienced a bit of annoyance. But, even in this situation, the one who came out best – the winner – was the blue tennis player himself because, with great elegance, he preferred to hold the umbrella rather than leave the burden to the girl in charge, even exchanging a few words out of pure politeness with the little girl blushing, embarrassed that a star was speaking to her. On the other side of the pitch, the Spaniard remained serenely silent. Gentlemen, you are born.