{"id":127959,"date":"2025-09-02T19:43:16","date_gmt":"2025-09-02T19:43:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/127959\/"},"modified":"2025-09-02T19:43:16","modified_gmt":"2025-09-02T19:43:16","slug":"man-apologizes-for-snatching-hat-from-young-boy-at-us-open-says-he-made-huge-mistake","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/127959\/","title":{"rendered":"Man apologizes for snatching hat from young boy at US Open, says he made ‘huge mistake’"},"content":{"rendered":"

(CNN) \u2014 The man who has been criticized after footage of him snatching a hat<\/a> off a young boy at the US Open<\/a> went viral has apologized, saying he made a \u201chuge mistake.\u201d<\/p>\n

Piotr Szczerek, identified as a Polish chief executive, was seen taking a hat from Poland\u2019s Kamil Majchrzak as he tried to give it to the young fan after his second round win against Karen Khachanov on Thursday.<\/p>\n

Majchrzak took off his cap and appeared to pass it to the boy who was clutching a giant tennis ball with both hands. As the boy reached out to take the cap, Szczerek standing next to him snatched it away and gave it to a woman who put it in her handbag despite the boy\u2019s visible protestations. The boy and Szczerek appeared not to know each other.<\/p>\n

The clip subsequently went viral on social media, with many criticizing Szczerek\u2019s behavior.<\/p>\n

On Monday, Szczerek apologized for his actions in a post on Facebook<\/a>, saying he believed \u201cthe tennis player was handing his cap to me,\u201d more specifically to his sons who had \u201cearlier asked for autographs.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThat mistaken belief made me reach out instinctively. Today I know I did something that looked like deliberately taking a souvenir from a child,\u201d he wrote. \u201cThat was not my intention, but it does not change the fact that I hurt the boy and disappointed the fans.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe cap has been handed to the boy, and I have apologized to the family. I hope this has at least partially repaired the damage done.\u201d<\/p>\n

Szczerek added: \u201cFor years, my wife and I have been involved in helping children and young athletes, but this situation showed me that one moment of inattention can undo years of work and support.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is a painful but necessary lesson in humility for me. Therefore, I will be even more active in initiatives that support children and youth and in efforts against violence and hate. I believe that only through actions can I rebuild the trust I have lost.\u201d<\/p>\n

He concluded his statement by saying: \u201cI apologize to everyone I let down.\u201d<\/p>\n

According to Polish outlet Tenis Magazyn<\/a>, Szczerek and his wife Anna founded the paving company Drogbruk in 1999.<\/p>\n

In the days after the incident, Majchrzak met the fan who was denied his hat, giving him a US Open<\/a>-branded bag of gifts, including another cap, and posed for photos alongside him.<\/p>\n

\u201cToday after warm up, I had a nice meeting,\u201d he wrote on his Instagram story. \u201cDo you recognize (cap emoji)?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cHello world, together with Brock, we wish you a great day,\u201d he wrote in another story.<\/p>\n

Fellow Polish tennis<\/a> player Iga \u015awi\u0105tek was asked about the pitfalls that come with giving away apparel to fans after matches and explained that she attempts to be considerate when she\u2019s doing it.<\/p>\n

\u201cObviously usually, like, seven people reach out for one thing. For example, if it\u2019s a girl and the boys have longer arms, she\u2019s not going to catch it,\u201d the six-time grand slam winner told reporters after her round-of-16 victory at Flushing Meadows on Monday. \u201cBut I usually throw, like, at the person that is supposed to get it.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo I try to be fair kind of, but I pick a person kind of randomly or whoever shouts louder. I know it\u2019s not fair, but obviously not everybody is going to be happy.\u201d<\/p>\n

RELATED | The US Open\u2019s chaos includes rowdy crowds, long commutes and the smells of weed or burgers<\/a><\/p>\n

\t \t \t \t=htmlentities(get_the_title())?>%0D%0A%0D%0A=get_permalink()?>%0D%0A%0D%0A=htmlentities(‘For more stories like this one, be sure to visit https:\/\/www.eastidahonews.com\/ for all of the latest news, community events and more.’)?>&subject=Check%20out%20this%20story%20from%20EastIdahoNews” class=”fa-stack jDialog”> \t <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"(CNN) \u2014 The man who has been criticized after footage of him snatching a hat off a young…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":127960,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[72],"tags":[99,428],"class_list":{"0":"post-127959","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-tennis","8":"tag-sports","9":"tag-tennis"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/127959","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=127959"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/127959\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/127960"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=127959"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=127959"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=127959"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}