'A grave mistake': millionaire sorry for snatching cap from young tennis fan

Moments after the Polish tennis player Kamil Majchrzak celebrated the biggest win of his career at the US Open last week, he handed his cap to a beaming young boy.

- Sean Ingle

What happened next sparked tears, outrage, a detective hunt across social media and, finally, a grovelling apology.

The apology came from Piotr Szczerek, a millionaire businessman from Poland, who had snatched the cap out of the boy's hand and stuffed it into his bag.

Videos of the incident showed the youngster looking deeply upset and asking: "What are you doing?" while Majchrzak - who was oblivious to the situation after his five-set victory against the ninth seed, Karen Khachanov - walked away.

In a post on his Facebook page yesterday, Szczerek, the head of a paving company, pleaded for forgiveness and said that he had given the hat back. "Due to the situation that occurred during Kamil Majchrzak's match at the US Open, I would like to unequivocally apologise to the injured boy, his family, all the fans, and the player himself," he wrote.