Carlos Alcaraz reunited with 'king bee' man who saved his suspended.......see more

Carlos Alcaraz started his Indian Wells title defence by reuniting with arguably the biggest hero of last year’s tournament. Twelve months ago, the Spaniard’s quarter-final match was suspended for almost two hours when a swarm of bees invaded the main stadium court and took a liking to the moving spidercam.

Tournament organisers called in reinforcements – namely Lance Davis, known as the ‘killer bee’ man. After saving Alcaraz’s match and getting rid of the swarm, Davis was invited back to the tournament this year to do the coin toss for the No. 2 seed’s opening match.

Two-time defending champion Alcaraz took on Quentin Halys in the second round on Saturday. As he approached the net for the coin toss, the umpire acquainted Alcaraz with Davis – but the pair needed no introduction.

The 21-year-old seemed delighted to see the ‘bee man’ back at the tournament, this time in far more positive circumstances, and greeted Davis with a hug. “I hope this year not gonna be bees!” Alcaraz joked.

“Remember last year in Alcaraz’s match against [Alexander] Zverev when the bees swarmed the court? That was the hero of the day.