After losing a bet to Tommy Paul, one Philadelphia Eagles cap has been added to Frances Tiafoe’s gear at the BNP Paribas Open. But when he arrived to the courts for his first match of the tournament, the American was missing another key piece of equipment: all of his racquets.
The humorous scene unfolded late on Stadium 2 Friday night as the No. 16 seed faced Bosian qualifier Damir Dzumhur. With court shoes in hand, Tiafoe looked all business as he arrived wearing a fresh Lululemon kit and white Beats headphones. However, it soon became apparent that the two-time US Open semifinalist wasn’t all that ready to go at the first ATP Masters 1000 event of the season when he unzipped his racquet bag and found the pocket that was supposed to contain his Yonex sticks empty.
Quickly informing umpire Aurélie Tourte and his opponent of the situation, Tiafoe left to his coach, David Witt, to locate the missing racquets.
Witt sprinted from the arena, and after a brief delay, returned to the court with a half-dozen freshly-strung racquets. Witt handed them to Tourte, who dutifully passed them along to their owner, and the crowd offered a rousing cheer as Tiafoe and his racquets were finally reunited.
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