Murray, who married Kim Sears in 2015, has played with his wedding ring attached to one of his laces ever since and did so when he took part in a practice session ahead of his opener in the Indian Wells tournament against Frenchman Adrian Mannarino.

The theft prompted the Scot to issue a video plea on Twitter on Thursday in an attempt to recover the ring.

“Last night after dinner in Indian Wells, I got back in the car to go back to the hotel and it didn’t smell great. I’d left my tennis shoes in there … it’s been like 38-39 degrees so the shoes are damp, sweaty and smelly,” Murray said in the video.

“I decided when I got back to the hotel that the shoes needed some air, I needed to dry them out a bit … I have no balcony in my room and didn’t want to leave them in my room to stink the room out.

“So I thought I’m going to leave the shoes under the car … overnight. When I got back to the car in the morning the shoes were gone. I had to go to a local pro shop to buy different shoes to what I normally wear … which isn’t the end of the world but not ideal.

“I was preparing for my practice when my physio said to me ‘where’s your wedding ring?’ And I was like ‘oh no’ …. So yeah, my ring has been stolen as well. Needless to say I’m in the bad books at home so I want to try and find it.”