Iga Swiatek recently threw shade at the WTA Finals 2023 in light of bees swarming the Indian Wells Tennis Garden while Carlos Alcaraz and Alexander Zverev were competing for a spot in the semifinals.
Alcaraz and Zverev's matchup on Thursday, March 14, came to a halt when thousands of bees entered Court 1. Chaos gripped the entire stadium as both players, the officials, and numerous spectators rushed for cover.
Interestingly, Swiatek had earned a walkover win over Caroline Wozniacki, who retired due to an injury, in her quarterfinal on the same court a few hours before the Alcaraz-Zverev clash.
Moreover, the Pole watched the bees hovering around the stadium on a TV screen in the press room addressing the media. At this, a journalist asked her to share any strange incident of a similar degree that she had experienced on the tour.
She brought the WTA Finals 2023 held in Cancun, Mexico, into the conversation without a second thought.
"I mean, the whole Cancun situation was pretty strange. I thought honestly the stadium was going to fall apart when I was in the middle of it. I'm happy that it didn't," Iga Swiatek replied.
The Cancun event invited sharp criticism from the tennis world and participating players alike for lack of preparedness and horrible weather among several other things.
The World No. 1 further cited a couple of incidents involving intoxicated fans in Melbourne and Miami.
"There were some drunk people in Melbourne once when I played my first Australian Open, I think, pro, and in Miami, but that's not strange, I guess. I mean, it's entertainment. But yeah, they were shouting and it was visible that they were drunk," she added.
Iga Swiatek to face Marta Kostyuk in the Indian Wells 2024 SF
Iga Swiatek will clash with Marta Kostyuk in one of the semifinals of the Indian Wells 2024 on Friday, March 15.
It will be Swiatek's second meeting with Kostyuk on the tour. She first met the Ukrainian in the fourth round of the French Open and secured a 6-3, 6-4 win only to lose to Maria Sakkari in the next match.
In Tennis Paradise this year, Kostyuk has thus far gone past Mai Hontama, Marketa Vondrousova (walkover), Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, and most recently, Anastasia Potapova.
Iga Swiatek has notably won the Indian Wells women's singles event in the year 2022 and she ended as one of the semifinalists last year.
