"Give love to the baby": Carlos Alcaraz, Daniil Medvedev's Indian Wells final gets interrupted by crying toddler; chair umpire hilariously intervenes

The 2024 BNP Paribas Open final between Carlos Alcaraz and Daniil Medvedev witnessed a warm act of compassion from chair umpire Mohammed Lehyani.

Defending champion Alcaraz was facing World No. 4 Medvedev in a rematch of last year's final. The tense clash took an unexpected turn as the game was briefly interrupted by the cries of a little girl in the stands.

Chair umpire Mohammad Lahyani, upon noticing the distressed child, took it upon himself to address the issue. He asked the girl’s father to console her, saying:

"Please give some love to the baby."

The father, respecting Lahyani’s request, promptly comforted his daughter and moved to the back row of the stands.

The touching incident was captured in a video and shared on Instagram on Sunday, March 17.

Carlos Alcaraz went on to win his consecutive Indian Wells title by defeating Medvedev 7-6(5), 6-1, in an hour and 42 minutes, becoming the first male player since Novak Djokovic to successfully defend his title.

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Carlos Alcaraz talks about overcoming mental problems with Indian Wells victory

Alcaraz at the 2024 BNP Paribas Open

Before the 2024 BNP Paribas Open, Carlos Alcaraz won his last title on the ATP tour eight months ago at the 2023 Wimbledon Championships by defeating current World No. 1 Novak Djokovic in a five-setter final.

Since then the Spaniard reached two quarterfinals (Canadian Open '23 and Australian Open '24), four semifinals (US Open, China Open, ATP Finals '23, and Argentina Open '24), and a final (Western & Southern Open '23), but failed to clinch a title.

On Sunday, March 17, Alcaraz won his 13th career title at Indian Wells by defeating World No. 4 Daniil Medvedev in straight sets.

"It's difficult to put it into words because I had really difficult months. Let's say the last two months it was difficult for me to find myself, I didn't enjoy, stepping on the court. I wasn't myself on the court the last two months, three months," Carlos Alcaraz said during his post-match press conference.

The World No. 2 opened up about overcoming mental and physical struggles to finally win the title.

"It means a lot to me, lifting this trophy, winning this tournament, because I overcome a lot of problems in my head, a lot of problems physically. It was so special for that, not that I didn't win a tournament since Wimbledon, for me, it doesn't matter, it's about the feelings," he added.

Carlos Alcaraz is now 920 points behind Novak Djokovic in the ATP rankings.