'Horrible man': French Open fan's 'gross' act shocks tennis world

A tennis fan has been labelled gross and shameless after snatching a souvenir from a child at the French Open.

The male adult was in attendance as Oscar Otte beat Malek Jaziri 6-3 6-1 4-6 6-0 at Roland Garros on Sunday.

The man then made his way down to courtside in the hope of grabbing a souvenir from the victorious German tennis player, and his eyes lit up when Otte threw a towel towards him.

But a young child grabbed the towel first after Otte appeared to spot the youngster waiting.

However the man wasn’t about to give in, snatching the towel off the stunned child.

As the youngster held on for dear life, the man tugged the souvenir out of his grasp until the towel was all his.

The astonishing moment was caught on TV, immediately going viral on social media.

And needless to say, the tennis world was in complete shock.

Swiss star Belinda Bencic even took to Twitter to express her disdain.

Luckily for the kid, Otte reportedly threw him another towel.

Federer awaits

The German’s reward for his first round victory is a clash with Roger Federer.

The Swiss legend returned to Roland Garros as if he had never been away by sweeping into the second round with ease.

The 20-time grand slam champion is playing the year's second major tournament for the first time in four years and had no trouble finding his feet on the redeveloped Court Philippe Chatrier as he dispatched Italy's Lorenzo Sonego 6-2 6-4 6-4 in just an hour and 41 minutes on Sunday.

with AAP