About

Polish CEO Piotr Szczerek US Open Hat Snatching Incident refers to a viral video and controversy where Polish tennis player Kamil Majchrzak attempted to give his signed hat to a young boy in the crowd after a match, only for Polish CEO Piotr Szczerek to snatch the hat before the child could receive it. The clip spread widely online the same day, with outlets like the New York Post reporting on the incident and identifying Szczerek as the man in the video. Several internet users posted negative reviews for Piotr Szczerek's company, Drogbruk, in the days after the event, with some reports alleging that his company's stock saw a dip after the negative press. In the following days, a response posted to the Polish job board and employer review site GoWork showed someone claiming to be Szczerek showing little remorse for his actions, claiming, "Yes, I took it. Yes, I did it quickly. But as I've always said, life is first come, first served… If you were faster, you would have it." Szczerek then posted an official statement on Facebook expressing his regret over the incident, saying that he had made a "grave mistake," and denied having issued any prior statements that indicated otherwise. The incident notably garnered widespread media coverage and spawned numerous memes and reactions online in late August 2025.

Origin

A live broadcast of the US Open series showed Polish tennis player Kamil Majchrzak greeting fans and signing autographs after his five-set victory over No. 9 seed Karen Khachanov on August 28th, 2025.^[1]

The video shows Majchrzak signing a giant tennis ball for a young boy before taking off his hat and handing it to him, but the grown man next to the boy snatches it out of the tennis player's hands and quickly puts it in his wife's bag.

The X^[2] account @Eurosport_PL was one of the first to post a video of the scene on August 28th, 2025, gathering over 3 million views and 3,000 likes in four days.

To (o ile nie ma w nim drugiego dna) zachowanie kibica?

😶😶😶#USOpen #USOpen2025 pic.twitter.com/wdFualaRcT

— Eurosport Polska (@Eurosport_PL) August 28, 2025

The video was also posted to the subreddit^[3] /r/tennis on August 29th, where Redditor u/kacperp wrote, "A man grabs Kamil Majchrzak's hat that the player wanted to give to a kid. Then quickly hides it in his wifes bag," gathering over 60,000 upvotes in three days.

The video was also reposted to the subreddits^[4][5] /r/trashy and /r/WellThatSucks on August 29th by Redditors /u/WISH_WISH_BISH, /u/IntelligentMind200 and /u/Zestyclose_Skirt7930, respectively, gathering over 13,000 upvotes each.

Several Polish internet users identified the "hat snatcher" as Piotr Szczerek, a Polish man who runs a paving company called Drogbruk. X^[6] user @PBPaszportu was one of the first to identify the Szczerek in an August 29th, 2025, post that translated to, "The president of the company Drogbruk, Piotr Szczerek, and his wife. Amazing people."

Spread

On August 29th, 2025, Kamil Majchrzak posted an Instagram^[7] story asking his followers for help tracking down the boy he had tried to give his hat to the day prior. The story featured cropped photos of the young fan.

On August 30th, 2025, Redditor /u/musicproducer07 posted a screenshot of Tennis player Kamil Majchrzak's Instagram story to the subreddit^[8] /r/MadeMeSmile, showing him meeting the young boy who got his hat snatched from his hands. The post gathered over 80,000 likes in two days.

In a statement to the New York Post,^[13] Majchrzak said, "Obviously it was some kind of confusion," given that Szczerek sponsors his tennis federation in Poland.

Polish CEO Piotr Szczerek's Response

Several internet users posing as Piotr Szczerek made posts on the Polish job board and employer review site GoWork, pretending to be unremorseful about the hat snatching incident.

Fake accounts pretending to be Szczerek also posted false statements to Instagram,^[11] as seen in this post by @piotr_szczerek_ that was reposted several times online, gathering over 6,000 upvotes in a day on the subreddit^[9] /r/SipsTea, and 52 million views and 300,000 likes on a X^[10] post by @FearedBuck on August 31st, 2025.

The post read, "Yes, I took it. Yes, I did it quickly. But as I’ve always said, life is first come, first served… If you were faster, you would have it… I remind you that insulting a public figure is subject to legal liability. All offensive comments, slander, and insinuations will be analyzed for the possibility of taking the matter to court."

Polish CEO Piotr Szczerek made an official statement acknowledging that he made a "grave mistake" by taking a hat meant for a young boy while attending a U.S. Open match in late August 2025. The CEO also denied issuing any previous statements where he appeared to express no remorse over the incident. The Facebook^[12] post gathered over 2,000 reactions in a day.

Part of the statement is translated below:

I would like to clearly apologize to the injured boy, his family, as well as all fans and the player himself. I made a serious mistake. In emotions, in a crowd of joy after victory, I was convinced that the tennis player gave a hat in my direction – for my sons who had previously asked for autographs.

Search Interest

External References