Francis Tiafoe made a desperate plea after his racket was stolen on court at the French Open.
The No19 seed secured a gruelling four-hour and 43-minute victory over Hubert Hurkacz in the second round.
The tennis star failed to serve it out in the fourth BUT dragged it over the line to beat the Polish former top-10 star 6-7 (5) 7-6 (5) 6-4 6-7 (1) 6-4.
He rushed to celebrate with the fans on Court 14 but in the midst of the chaos — his most important instrument went missing.
The American took to Instagram to reveal a fan had stolen his racket while he was lost in the elation, jumping up and down.
Tiafoe said: “Unreal atmosphere on Court 14 today. But I must say to the fan who took my racquet at the end when I was celebrating with y’all.
“Can I please have it back? I’ll bless you with two tickets to my next match.”
And word travelled quickly, with Tiafoe reunited with his racket less than one hour later.
He revealed that a fan had got back to him and that a member of his backroom team was already in the car to collect.
The World No22 said: “My guy’s going to go get it. They’re going to go get it. Yeah, the DM, Brian, he’s going to go get it.
“I gave a pair of shoes to Brian to go get it. I’m waiting for the text to see if the racquet [is there].
“Obviously I hugged him, and I hugged him with my racquet in my hand, and then I was, like, my arm is getting stuck.
“Man, whatever. I need to go shake Hubi’s hand and the ref’s hand.
“And then I’m walking off the court and I was, like, Wait, hold on, hold on, I’m down a racquet. I never put that racquet back in.
“Mark’s, like, I’m gonna get an Instagram post. I was, like, I think I’m going to get it.
“In the States I’m not getting the racquet, but here, I was, like, I feel like in Europe, they love tennis so much, I think I’m gonna get it.”
The fan who got his hands on the racket shared his own post on Instagram showing it off, and he jokingly sent a warning to Tiafoe.
“Keep your racket in your hands brother,” he wrote.
Tiafoe made reached the quarter-finals last year.
Now he will face Portuguese qualifier Jamie Faria in the third round on May 30.
