Sports and Recreation

Flying Ants Invade Wimbledon, Pester Tennis Players

A close-up view of a flying ant on a racket on Day 3 of the Wimbledon Lawn Tennis Championships at the All England Club on July 5, 2017 in London, England.
(David Ramos/Getty Images)

Wednesday was an especially challenging day for the tennis players at Wimbledon, who weren't just battling each other – they were also fighting off swarms of flying ants.

The annual tennis tournament in England was invaded by the hordes of flying, biting insects, and although it's not abnormal for the area to see the swarms, they don't see the ants in the first week of July. According to ESPN.com, the phenomenon occurs when the ants leave their colonies to mate, but it usually doesn't occur until late July or early August.

Warm weather is the reason for the early swarms.

Steve Johnson of the United States gestures to get rid of flying ants during a men's singles match against Moldova's Radu Albot on Day 3 at the Wimbledon Tennis Championships in London, Wednesday, July 5, 2017.
(AP Photo/Alastair Grant)

Ask the locals about "Flying Ant Day" and they'll all know – it's an unofficial holiday in southern England. When millions of ants take to the skies, it's best to be inside, but with the country's biggest tennis tournament ongoing, spectators and players didn't have a choice but to endure the annoyance.

"That was strange," said men's pro tennis player Jo-Wilfried Tsonga following his second-round win. "Sometimes you have them in the U.S. at night and in Australia. This was different – it was in my nose, in my hair."

A court is covered in flying ants as Ukraine's Sergiy Stakhovsky plays against Japan's Kei Nishikori during their men's singles second round match on the third day of the 2017 Wimbledon Championships.
(OLI SCARFF/AFP/Getty Images)

Some of the biggest swarms were reported during a second-round match between Nikoloz Basilashvili and American Sam Querrey on Court 18, according to the Telegraph. At one point, Querrey said the ants became so annoying that if the problem had gotten any worse, he would have walked off the court.

"I also lost the set when the ants came," Querrey told reporters. "If I had won that set, [it] probably wouldn't have bugged me as much."

For the most part, players and fans took a lighthearted approach to the pests, seeing the ants as just another souvenir to take home from a place where collectibles are highly valued.

"I definitely have taken home a few both in my belly and in my bags," said women's pro tennis player Johanna Konta following her second-round win on Centre Court.