Stefanos Tsitsipas was forced to plead with an umpire on Wednesday to have a fan kicked out of his tennis match after accusing her of buzzing before he served.
The Greek world number 4 approached the umpire to say there was “a person imitating a bee” behind him at the Western and Southern Open in Ohio.
The 25-year-old didn’t immediately recognise it was a spectator making the noise at first – at one point, waving his racket in the air, attempting to swat away the non-existent bee.
However, he eventually clocked that the noise was coming from the seats behind him.
“It’s a buzz right before I serve,” he said.
The umpire said he would “take care of it”, but Tsitsipas went to a group of people behind him to find out who the culprit was.
One fan immediately pointed at a woman in the front row. His opponent, American Ben Shelton, also came over to find out what was going on.
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“I know they’re supporting the [other player],” Tsitsipas said to the umpire.
“I want her out. She needs to go,” he added.
He went over to the fan and they spoke for several minutes, however it’s not known what was said.
Tsitsipas won, 7-6 (7-3), 7-6 (7-2), but then lost in the round of 16 to Hubert Hurkacz of Poland.
He lost to Novak Djokovic in the Australian Open final in January, went out in the quarter-final of the French Open to Carlos Alcaraz in June, and was dismissed by Christopher Eubanks in the round of 16 at Wimbledon in July.
Tsitispas is seeded fifth for the US Open in New York later this month.