The surprise victor of the $1.2 million Indian Wells tennis tournament had his sneakers stolen just hours before the final

• The shock winner of the Indian Wells Masters had to play the final in new shoes after losing his.
• Brit Cameron Norrie said he left his usual pair on top of the lockers, but they went missing before the final.

The Indian Wells champion was forced to play the final in shoes he had never worn before after his went missing just hours before the match.

Brit Cameron Norrie defeated Georgian Nikoloz Basilashvili 3-6, 6-4, 6-1 to win his first ever Masters 1000 title, but had to do so in entirely new trainers after the pair he'd been wearing all tournament were seemingly stolen or thrown out.

"I got to the tennis today, every day I left my shoes on top of the locker," he said as reported by the Guardian.

"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 don't know what the people have against the Brits with stealing the shoes, but I didn't manage to get them back," Norrie said, referencing a recent incident in which three-time Grand Slam winnerAndy Murray lost his tennis shoes, which had his wedding ring attached to them

"Just had to go out there with a fresh pair of shoes. Yeah, it was just difficult," Norrie said.

"Luckily I didn't have a wedding ring attached. I didn't lose that, so it was a bonus for me."

Norrie's coach, Facundo Lugones, was concerned the lost shoes could have ruined the Brit's chances in the final.

"It's a very strange situation," the Argentine said. "But credit to Cam. He never panicked. Even before the match I was more pissed off than him.

"I tried not to show him. I just couldn't believe it.

"Obviously, for anyone who has played tennis at a decent level, it's very tough to play with brand-new shoes.

"They're really hard, especially on these courts. You get stuck a lot. In a match he was going to have to run like crazy to get every ball back.

"Then you come to play your biggest match of your career and you don't have your shoes."

With victory, Norrie became the first British player to ever win the tournament and rose to a career-high ranking of 15th.

Norrie also took home the biggest individual paycheck of his career, winning $1.2 million in the process.