The behaviour of tennis fans at the US Open is in the spotlight again after footage of a man attempting to open Jannik Sinner's bag went viral.
Sinner, who takes on Italian compatriot Lorenzo Musetti in the quarterfinal this morning from 10am (AEST), had just finished his straight-sets victory over Alexander Bublik when the world number one approached the crowd to hand a towel to a young fan.
As Sinner turned his back, a fan in the front row reached across to the champion's bag and started unzipping it, before being stopped by security.
The incident follows the Polish chief executive of paving company Drogbruk being slammed for snatching a hat from a child in the crowd after Kamil Majchrzak's match against Karen Khachanov earlier in the week.
Piotr Szczerek was caught on film taking the hat after Majchrzak appeared to hand it to the child.
Szczerek has since apologised for the incident after several fake statements were spread across social media.
"I take full responsibility for my extremely poor judgement and hurtful actions," he wrote.
"It was never my intent to steal away a prized memento from the young fan. I became caught up in the heat of the moment and the joy of the victory.
"Regardless of what I believed was happening, the actions I took hurt the young boy and disappointed the fans.
"I have sent the hat back to the boy and extended my sincere apologies to his family. I hope, at least to a small extent, I was able to repair the harm I caused."
ABC
