Wimbledon 2017: Jack Sock manages to find young fan who had a towel ripped out of his hands by older man
The young fan is from Ireland and has been invited to one of Sock's future matches
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The American tennis player Jack Sock has managed to find the young Wimbledon fan who had a souvenir towel ripped out of his hands by a grown man on Tuesday.
Sock threw his towel into the crowd after beating Chile’s Christian Garin 6-3 4-6 7-6 6-3 on Court 8. A young fan stood ready to catch it, only to have it ripped out of his hands by an older man sitting in front of him.
Sock did not notice the tussle at the time, but later saw video footage of the incident on Twitter and promised to compensate the youngster – if only he could find him first.
“If anyone knows the kid that unfortunately had the towel ripped out of his hands... tweet his name at me and I'll be sure to get him one,” he tweeted.
Judy Murray, the mother of world number one Andy, also condemned the older man for snatching the towel, tweeting: “If ur the bloke in the blue polo shirt and hat, you should be ashamed”.
But there is a happy ending to the story.
Sock’s agent has confirmed that the teenager who lost the towel has contacted the player, and that he has been given a new towel as well as an invitation to attend some future matches.
Mary Jane Orman, Sock’s agent, said: “The boy messaged Jack directly on Instagram and is from Ireland. He has gone home now but Jack invited him to his matches and said he will send him a towel.”
The other grand slam tournaments have also come together to cheer up the wronged fan.
The US Open twitter account promised the fan one of their towels, before suggesting “the Australian Open and Roland Garros could “maybe send one of yours as well for a Slam sweep?”
The Australian Open replied: “No sweat! Happy to chip in an AusOpen towel”. Roland Garros also replied positively.
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