Jannik Sinner was in for quite a shock during the Six Kings Slam on Wednesday when a fan managed to run onto the court and tried to ask the Italian tennis star for the Nike jacket he was wearing.
The bizarre moment played out as Netflix cameras captured the whole exchange in the background, as presenters were on screen talking after world No. 2 Sinner defeated No. 24 Stefanos Tsitsipas in straight sets in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
The fan calmly walked onto the court, unobstructed, and went right up to Sinner to shake his hand.
The somewhat confused Sinner politely engaged with the fan, who then started to gesture to the tennis player’s jacket in what appeared to be an attempt to get him to fork over the Nike swag.
The two spoke for several seconds before a security guard showed up and escorted the fan away from Sinner.
Sinner, no worse for the wear, put his bag on his shoulder and simply walked away.
Sinner is participating in the Six Kings Slam, alongside Tsitsipas, Novak Djokovic, Taylor Fritz, Carlos Alcaraz and Alexander Zverev. The event is running through Saturday.
It’s the second strange fan encounter that Sinner has had this year at a tennis event.
During the U.S. Open in Queens, a fan tried to go into Sinner’s bag and steal from it while he was near the stands after his round of 16 match against Alexander Bublik.
A quick-reacting security guard pushed the fan’s hand away from the bag before he could take anything.
The USTA did not punish the fan for the actions, but Sinner told reporters that he had never experienced anything like that before.
“You know it was …. I checked straight away if he took something because I don’t have only rackets there,” Sinner said at the time. “I have my phone, my wallet, but, you know, the security is doing a great job. Especially on court, there’s lots of security and I believe especially in big tournaments (they do) an amazing job to make us feel safe. New things happen like this that makes (what they’re doing) a great job