Cameron Norrie, a Briton, is the first Briton who won the Masters 1000 event at Indian Wells
Cameron Norrie's Indian Wells win was remarkable enough without the revelation that his shoes were missing prior to the final. He had to buy new shoes.
With a 6-1 win over Nikolocz Basilashvili of Georgia, the 26-year old became the first Briton ever to win the prestigious Masters 1000 event in California.
His preparations for the tournament were thwarted when, much like Andy Murray's earlier incident, his shoes vanished.
"Every day, I put my shoes on top the locker. He said that someone (I don't remember who it was), came through and threw away the three pairs of shoes I had.
"I looked all day. I had everyone looking. I don't know what people think about the Brits stealing my shoes. But I couldn't get them back.
It was difficult. He said that fortunately, he didn't have a marriage ring attached to him like Murray.
During the most important final of his life, he said that the shoes were on his mind.
He said, "You don’t want to think about your shoes." "At one point, I said, "All right, these were the shoes that I got. I'm going to just focus on what's within my control right now." They were comfortable and I was able to wear them for a while.
Norrie was trailing by one set and a half before winning the match, but he didn't believe it was due to the trainer issue.
Norrie's stunning win at one of the sport’s most prominent tournaments is the culmination of a remarkable year. He has been ranked as the British number 1 and has risen to a career high of 15th in world ranking.
He has now reached six finals in 2021 and is qualified for the elite season-ending ATP Finals. This event features the eight most successful men of the year.
He is now in 10th place in Turin's race to Turin, just 115 points behind Hubert Hurkacz, who was ninth. Rafael Nadal, eighth-placed, is not participating in this season's race to Turin. This means that the ninth place will qualify.
Norrie has this goal in his sights now, even though it seemed unlikely at the beginning of the year when Norrie was ranked 74th.
He said, "I think even being involved in the conversation this late into the year with, what?, four tournaments remaining after this, that's impressive to me."
"If you had told me that before the year, I would have been very happy. That's a lot progress.
"[Next] I will be playing Vienna, Paris, and Stockholm. Although it would be great to do so, I will continue to work hard and take care of my responsibilities.
