Two years ago, Carlos Alcaraz’s quarter-final match at the BNP Paribas Open was interrupted by unexpected visitors: a swarm of bees.
On Thursday night, the Spaniard leaned into the memory when he donned a bee costume after his quarter-final win against Cameron Norrie, delighting fans who had spent the evening dressed the same way.
A group of supporters in Stadium 1 had arrived in full bee outfits and tossed one of the costumes down to Alcaraz after the match, urging him to try it on. The No. 1 player in the PIF ATP Rankings happily obliged, slipping into the costume to the roar of the crowd and sharing a light-hearted moment with fans before leaving the court in Indian Wells.
“The other day, I was with them [the fans] at the end of the match a little bit. Today they brought me a bee costume, and they started to say ‘Wear it, Wear It’. So I had to do it for them,” Alcaraz said. “They were cheering since the first point until the last one. So it was, like, all right, I had to do it. It’s funny.”
On court, Alcaraz produced a business-like performance against Norrie to reach the semi-finals in Indian Wells for the fifth straight season. The 22-year-old, a two-time champion at the ATP Masters 1000 event, now leads Norrie 6-3 in the pair’s Lexus ATP Head2Head series.
During the one-hour, 33-minute win, Alcaraz produced a number of world-class drop shots, a signature of the Spaniard’s rise to the top. Afterward, the top seed was asked who he thinks has the best drop shot on Tour.
“I have a few in mind. Moutet has one of the best drop shots and one of the best touches, in general," Alcaraz said. "But I love the Djokovic dropshot. [The] Djokovic backhand dropshot, I think, is a really good one. When he does it, it's a really nice one. Dimitrov has a good one. Great touch, as well. It's the first players that come to my mind.”
Alcaraz, who is 16-0 on the season, according to the Infosys ATP Win/Loss Index, will meet Daniil Medvedev in the semi-finals on Saturday.
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