Frances Tiafoe suffered an unfortunate mishap just moments before taking to the court at Indian Wells.
The American received a bye into the second round as the 16th seed and came up against Damir Dzumhur at the Tennis Garden.
He looked calm and composed when walking onto the court in front of a home crowd in the Coachella Valley.
However, once he set his bag down on his chair, Tiafoe realised he was missing a key component to his chances of success – his racquets.
Upon realisation, he cut a confused look before his coach David Witt dashed away in search of his strings.
Tiafoe then walked up to his opponent Dzumhur and explained the situation to him in what was a bizarre prelude to the match.
Witt then emerged with the rackets and they were handed to the 27-year-old, who saw the funny side of the blunder.
The crowd cheered as he walked past Dzumhur and back towards his chair before taking to the court for a tough match.
Tiafoe won the first set before going 5-1 down in the second, only to turn it around and seal a 7-6 [7-4] 7-6 [9-7] victory.
He won with a strong backhand and shouted in delight towards the crowd once his spot in the third round was confirmed.
Speaking afterwards via the Daily Express, two-time US Open semi-finalist Tiafoe gave an honest reflection of his comeback win.
“I was serving so poorly today so I had to play so many long points and it was kind of what he wanted and I couldn’t hit through him.
“Should’ve come forward maybe a little more but it was tough. He was defending so well today and I couldn’t hit as big as I would like.
“At 5-1, it’s so funny, you kind of care less. I started swinging the ball amazing and all of a sudden started hitting huge, threw a lot of points together really fast.”
Tiafoe will face Yosuke Watanuki in the third round at Indian Wells, with the tournament already two major upsets in the men’s singles.
Alexander Zverev entered as the first seed but lost 6-4 6-7 [5-7] 6-7 [4-7] to Tallon Griekspoor in a match that lasted just over three hours.
Fourth seed Casper Ruud also suffered an early exit as he was beaten 6-7 [4-7] 6-3 2-6 by Marcos Giron.
