Week 1 of the U.S. Open was full of viral, made-for-social-media moments. Jelena Ostapenko and Daniil Medvedev being at the forefront of viral moments is nothing new. But nobody could have predicted that Kamil Majchrzak would also be front and center.
Of course, it wasn’t really Majchrzak’s own doing. He simply gave–or tried to give–his hat to a young boy following his second-round victory over Karen Khachanov (during which the 29-year-old Pole came back from two sets down and saved three match points). However, Majchrzak was busy signing autographs at the same time and probably didn’t notice when a man swiped the hat from the incredulous kid.
Social media then did its thing, outing the thief as Piotr Szczerek–a CEO of Polish company Drogbruk. Majchrzak also took to social media and asked the masses to find the kid. Sure enough, he was also identified and Majchrzak ended up meeting him following his practice the next day.
“Help me find the kid from my match,” he wrote on Instagram.
Operation: successful. Majchrzak again posted after he met up with the boy. “Hello World, Together with Brock we wish you a great day!”
The world No. 76’s U.S. Open run ended due to injury in the third round against Leandro Riedi. As for Szczerek, he was shamed into a public apology on social media.
Ricky contributes to 10sballs.com and also maintains his own tennis website, The Grandstand. You can follow him on Twitter at @Dimonator.