Teen tennis star has 'awkward' encounter with man during match at US Open
A teen tennis star had a bit of an awkward encounter while on the court.
Mirra Andreeva was sat with her partner, Diana Shnaider, during their winning match at the US Open on Monday (1 September) when the bizarre interaction occurred.
At just 18 years old, she was left laughing in disbelief when a man came over to her – adding to a string of weird fan moments so far at the sporting event this year.
We’ve already had the viral moment of a Polish CEO ‘stealing’ a cap from a young kid and another fan seeming to try and get into the bag of the World No.1.
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But it didn’t seem like this fan actually wanted something in particular from the Russian player when he called for her attention.
A video from the tennis coverage shows Andreeva and Schnaider chatting and drinking their water on the court bench as a man makes his way into shot behind them.
Wearing a US Open cap, the bloke walks up and seems to be calling for them as the pair of players eventually turn around to him.
He appeared to wave at Andreeva and smile as he said something before she turned back around and he was left to swiftly walk away. It’s not quite known exactly what he said to the teen.
As the two women looked at each other, they soon burst into brief laughter before talking to someone else off-camera.
The exchange seemed harmless, but certainly pretty awkward, while some users on X labelled it as ‘creepy asf’.
“So cringe,” one wrote as another said it was ‘so creepy’.
While others wrote to say they don’t think it was ‘inappropriate’ just simply ‘cringe and awkward’.
However, one said: “He was just saying hi, I think that’s okay it was fine, maybe not mid match.”
It certainly seems harmless compared to the guy who seemed to be reaching for the zipper to open up Jannik Sinner’s bag.
The 24-year-old was making his way off the court as he stopped by some spectators at the side, offering them his towel. But as he stopped for a selfie, one fan seemed to take the opportunity of being in such close proximity to unzip the four-time Grand Slam champ’s bag on his back.
Security quickly reacted, however, and batted the man’s hand away with the tennis star looking pretty miffed, shaking his head and quickly making an exit.
Who knew tennis had such random interactions?
Jess Battison