Whether it’s an autograph, a sweatband or even a towel, picking up a memento from a Wimbledon match can be the high point of many a young tennis fan’s day.

But one Wimbledon spectator put paid to that simple delight when he snatched a towel thrown by US player Jack Sock towards a teenage boy.

Footage from the match on Court 8 showed the middle-aged spectator determinedly wrestling the player’s towel away from the boy sitting one row behind him.

After the match Sock promised that if the teenager, thought to be from Ireland, came forward he would present him with a replacement towel to make up for his disappointment: