A brazen US Open fan was caught red handed trying to open and steal something from Jannik Sinner’s bag on Monday night.
The Italian had just secured his spot in the quarter-finals of the tournament in New York City and packed up his tennis gear before heading back to the locker room.
Sinner, a four-time Grand Slam champion, was about to leave the court when he walked over to fans in the front row to hand one of them a towel.
As he did so, Sinner then paused to take a selfie with another supporter.
Sensing his opportunity, the daring fan can be seen leaning over and starting to try and pull the zip down on his bag.
Fortunately a security guard quickly noticed what was going on and swatted the fan’s hands away before he got into Sinner’s bag.
A US Open fan was caught trying to open and steal something from Jannik Sinner’s bag
Sinne paused for a selfie and the fan made his move, only for the security guard to notice
The fan quickly pulled his hands back and looked embarrassed he had been caught
Sinner quickly turned around to see what was going on and the fan quickly pulled his hands back and looked embarrassed he had been caught.
It was an unsavory end to what had been a comfortable night for the Italian.
Sinner overwhelmed the only player other than Carlos Alcaraz who has defeated him this season, routing Alexander Bublik 6-1, 6-1, 6-1 to return to the quarterfinals of the tournament he won last year.
The top-seeded Sinner’s victory took just 1 hour, 21 minutes, the second-shortest completed match in the tournament. A first-round victory for Tomas Machac was a minute shorter.
‘At times I felt like today I was playing some great tennis, and I managed to break him very early, which then gave me the confidence to serve a little bit better and play from the back of the court a bit better,’ Sinner said.
‘It was a faster, or a fast match.’
Sinner routed Alexander Bublik 6-1, 6-1, 6-1 to return to the quarterfinals of the tournament
Sinner lost to Bublik in June in Halle, Germany, in a warm-up tournament before Wimbledon, but that was played on a grass court. Trying to beat the defending US Open champion on a hard court is an entirely different story.
Sinner has won 25 straight Grand Slam matches on that surface, including the last two Australian Open titles, along with his first US Open trophy last year.
He will face fellow Italian Lorenzo Musetti, the No. 10 seed, on Wednesday.
