‘I don’t know what people have against Brits with stealing shoes" jokes Cam Norrie after losing shoes ahead of final

Cameron Norrie won the 2021 BNP Paribas Open with a majestic comeback over Nikoloz Basilashvili but not a lot of people were aware of the drama that happened before the final even started. When Norrie arrived at the Tennis Garden his shoes were missing from the locker room. His team needed to scramble and get him new ones and it worked out with Norrie lifting the trophy.

After the match he explained what happened:

“I got to the tennis today, every day I left my shoes on top of the locker. I think someone, I don’t know who it was, maybe someone from the cleaners or something last night came through and they threw the three pairs of shoes that I had away. I looked all day. I had everyone looking."

Norrie then joked about the situation as it was the 2nd time that happened to a Brit in Indian Wells this year. He said:

"I don’t know what the people have against the Brits with stealing the shoes, but I didn’t manage to get them back. Just had to go out there with a fresh pair of shoes. Yeah, it was just difficult. Luckily I didn’t have a wedding ring attached. I didn’t lose that, so it was a bonus for me (smiling).”

Norrie explained that ultimately it did not matter much:

“I don’t think it mattered too much. Ideally, I like to play with shoes that I’ve been using for maybe five or six hits or practices or warm-ups. I like to have them a little bit used. They feel a bit heavy in general if they’re a bit newer."