US Open fan who snatched souvenir from young boy identified as millionaire CEO Piotr Szczerek, boss of DrogBruk

The tennis fan who snatched a US Open player’s hat from the grasp of a young child has been identified as Polish millionaire CEO Piotr Szczerek.

Szczerek, who heads up paving contractor company DrogBruk, has been reported as the man who was caught on Thursday night’s broadcast (local time) taking Polish tennis star Kamil Majchrzak’s match-worn hat when he was trying to hand it to an eager boy.

WATCH THE VIDEO ABOVE: Grown man snatches cap from young boy.

Majchrzak had just won the match of his life against No.9 seed Karen Khachanov, coming back from two sets down to pull off the extraordinary 2-6, 6-7 (7-4), 6-4, 7-5, 7-6 (7-5) victory.

After the match, the young boy was waiting patiently for an autograph on his giant tennis ball when Majchrzak generously offered the cap on his head instead.

But it was snatched away by the successful businessman, who was then seen tucking the hat into his wife’s bag as the heartbroken youngster protested.

“What are you doing?” the boy yelled towards the man as he appeared to laugh.

He pleaded with the adults to give him the cap, but they just carried on before giving the boy a pen.

The distasteful act of greed sparked viral fury from the tennis world and wider community.

Szczerek has since deactivated his social media accounts.

Polish job search site Gowork.pl was quickly flooded with people blasting the prominent CEO, who was described in no uncertain terms as a “common thief”, “sack of garbage”, “primitive scammer”, and “shameful jerk” by various different people.

“Only an ordinary idiot and a jerk could snatch a hat from a child’s hands,” someone else said.

DrogBruk was co-founded by Szczerek and his wife in 1999, and has been lauded by Polish publications as a leader in the industry.

The disheartening incident eventually had a happy ending though, with Majchrzak making a successful public plea to track the boy down and shower him with gifts, including a signed cap.

With “the power of the internet”, it took him just an hour to find the youngster.

Majchrzak posted a video on Sunday morning (AEST) in which he is seen reuniting with the young fan.

“Today after warm up I had a nice meeting. Do you recognise?” he wrote, alongside a cap emoji.

He then posed for a photo with the boy, whose name is Brock, he said.

“Hello world, together with Brock. We wish you a great day,” Majchrzak added.

While the story had a happy ending for the young boy, the adult fan was slammed.

“What a terrible man, to snatch it right out of a child’s hand like that,” one fan said.

“He was so rude, how can someone do this to a little boy,” another said.

Unfortunately for the world No.76, his US Open campaign came to an end just five hours after posting of his reunion with the child, conceding he had to retire due to injury.

“Hi everyone, a quick update: I have teared (sic) intercostal muscle and I was forced to retire today,” he wrote.

“Playing at US Open requires the best from us tennis players, and today I just haven’t been able to compete. I tried but the pain was too big.

“Thanks for all your support through all the days and all the kind messages.”