Iga Swiatek delivers verdict on ‘strange’ US Open hat snatching incident
Iga Swiatek suggested tennis fans should play fair after a clip of a man snatching a player’s cap from a child’s hands went viral at the US Open.
Swiatek’s compatriot Kamil Majchrzak handed his cap to a young boy after his second-round win over ninth seed Karen Khachanov, but a man later identified as Polish millionaire Piotr Szczerek was filmed grabbing it off the child, who was visibly upset.
Majchrzak did not initially see the incident as he continued signing autographs, but later managed to make contact with the boy, named Brock, and give him a signed cap as a memento. Szczerek, the chief executive of Polish company Drogbruk, said he had made a “huge mistake” in a lengthy apology for his actions and stated he had returned the original cap to Brock.
Swiatek, speaking after her fourth-round win over Ekaterina Alexandrova in New York, said she hadn’t seen the hat-snatching incident at the time.
But she said that it was “strange” that adults would attempt to take keepsakes players intended to give to young fans.
“Sometimes it’s strange when I try to give something to the kid, and the adult grabs it,” she said. “Then I try to be like, ‘Come on, that’s not the point.’”
She explained that she tried to single out specific people in the crowd and indicate who the keepsake was intended for, to avoid similar incidents.
“Usually, like, seven people reach out for one thing. For example, if it’s a girl and the boys have longer arms, it’s not kind of – she’s not going to catch it. But I usually throw, like, at the person that is supposed to get it.
“So I try to be fair, but I don’t pick, I pick a person kind of randomly or whoever shouts louder. I know it’s not fair, but obviously not everybody is going to be happy.”
Asked whether it ever felt bizarre as a player to have fans fighting over used items like sweaty towels, she said, “No, because I would love to have a sweaty towel of Rafa’s when I was a kid.”
Swiatek continues her campaign for a second US Open title against Amanda Anisimova, who she will meet in the quarter-finals for the first time since she hammered the American 6-0, 6-0 in the Wimbledon final.
