On 14th March 2024, Carlos Alcaraz played against one of his growing rivals Alexander Zverev for the semi-final berth in the ongoing Indian Wells. What was interesting besides the result, was that the match suffered a brief pause due to a strange reason – a bee invasion. As a swarm of bees took over the Indian Wells Tennis Garden, the game wouldn’t have resumed if not for a gentleman called Lance Davis.
Lance Davis carefully removed the bees from the cable cameras using a large contraption in what looked like a vacuum cleaner. After a delay of 108 minutes, the match resumed.
As per his Linkedin profile, Lance Davis is a native of Palisade, Colorado, who started beekeeping in 1970. His motto in life is the preservation and conservation of Killer Bees, which are no different than the honeybees from Africa. having worked for more than 5 decades in ‘bee removal’, Davis carefully relocates the best from their area of invasion to a safer environment, where they will be beneficial in the pollination of crops. He believes bees are essential for the planet’s survival.
As far as his association with the Indian Wells goes, the tournament officially released a statement about Davis, after his heroic act.
“Davis has worked with the tournament for approximately seven years. He works with the tournament on a year-round basis, as needed, and has been out a few times to this year’s event to help with other beekeeping needs around the grounds. He used a vacuum that filters the bees into a live catch cage, a natural and humane way to remove them from the site. This area, at this time of the year, can be a hotspot for bees, with all the flowers blooming and blossoming. In addition, the bees can be attracted to low-frequency sound waves, and music bass, as they feel the vibrations and are attracted to those locations. The tournament is very thankful for his quick response to the situation, and on-going assistance to the BNP Paribas Open,” read the statement.
Background on Lance, the bee guy who saved the day in Indian Wells
From the tourament: pic.twitter.com/Q8sZ0C0CSr
— Christopher Clarey (@christophclarey) March 15, 2024
The game had just begun and was evenly poised at 1-1 when the bees invaded. As Davis was carefully restoring normality on the court by removing the bees, loudspeakers blared the song “There Goes My Hero” by the Foo Fighters; a very appropriate synchronization. After a delay of 1 hour and 48 minutes, players returned to the court at around 4:40 pm.
As Davis left the court, after he had done his job, he received a loud applause from the crowd as well as requests for autographs. Alcaraz eventually won the match 6-3, 6-1, and advanced to the semi-final.
Besides Indian Wells, Lance Davis has closely worked with bees on many occasions
Lance Davis is endearingly known as ‘The Killer Bee Catcher’. He has braved many dangers and overcome several hardships in his career, all for the sake of preserving bees. Although Davis is from Colorado, he has developed a sort of celebrity status in California as a ‘Bee Catcher’.
Having stayed and worked in California for many years now, Lance Davis is the man of the hour on not just the Indian Wells, but also many other places. He has been the President of the Killer Bee Live Removal in Palm Desert, California for nearly 39 years. It is an area that has been a hub for honeybees over the years.
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His Instagram account has videos and pictures about honeycombs, bee removal, honey, and all other rare and interesting information that stems from bees. He has also starred in a documentary about bees and been a reality TV star on EarthXTV. Once, when suffering from injuries, Davis relied on Desert Regional Trauma Center and Rehab Facilities to help him recover.
