A man who took tennis player Kamil Majchrzak’s hat from a young fan at the U.S. Open apologized on social media and said he has returned it.
Piotr Szczerek posted an apology on social media Monday after video of the incident went viral over the weekend. The broadcast showed Szczerek grabbing Majchrzak’s hat from a boy after the player’s singles match against Karen Khachanov.
Szczerek, who the New York Times reported is the CEO of a Polish paving company, wrote on Facebook that he made a mistake thinking Majchrzak was giving him the hat for his sons, who had asked earlier for an autograph. In the post, he said he had apologized personally.
“I take full responsibility for my extremely poor judgment and hurtful actions. It was never my intent to steal away a prized memento from the young fan,” he wrote. “Regardless of what I believed was happening, the actions I took hurt the young boy and disappointed the fans.”
Majchrzak said on social media that he reached out to the boy’s family and met with him to give him a new hat and take photos with him.
Majchrzak posted an image of him standing and smiling next to the boy wearing the cap, BBC News reported. “Hello World, together with Brock we wish you a great day!” the tennis player’s caption said.
The 29-year-old Majchrzak, who is also from Poland, retired from his match Saturday because of an undisclosed injury.
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