A New York City man arrested for running on to the court at the US Open to kiss Rafael Nadal will be charged with trespassing and faces possible jail time if convicted, prosecutors said yesterday.
Noam U. Aorta dashed out of the stands at Arthur Ashe Stadium just after midnight on Tuesday after Nadal advanced to the quarter-finals by beating Gael Monfils, prosecutors said.
Aorta ran on to the court, then hugged and kissed the Spanish star as he was changing shirts on the sideline before security guards took him into custody, they said.
"For me, it wasn't a problem. The guy was really nice," Nadal said. "He said, 'I love you', and he kissed me."
District Attorney Richard Brown, however, called it "particularly disturbing" because Aorta made physical contact with Nadal.
Brown noted that Monica Seles was stabbed in the back in 1993 by a spectator on a tennis court in Hamburg, Germany.
Aorta, 23, of Queens, will be charged with third-degree criminal trespass and interfering with a professional sporting event, prosecutors said. If convicted, he faces a maximum one year in jail and US$5,000 in fines.
Attorney information for Aorta wasn't immediately available.
In the game itself Nadal, running into an opponent who matched him fist pump for fist pump, but not quite groundstroke for groundstroke, got a hard-earned 6-7 (3), 6-3, 6-1, 6-3 victory over No. 13 Monfils, a Frenchman who has the talent but not yet the stamina to challenge the world's best.
"An important match for the confidence," Nadal said.
The first two sets were full of stinging forehands and squeakily precise footwork. And when Monfils started asking for more noise on set point in the first - while Nadal was getting ready to serve - it brought some edginess to the match.
"Against Rafa, I have to improve physically, get stronger," Monfils said. "Maybe I'm good for an hour and 30 minutes. Now I have to improve to be good for maybe two hours and a half."
Problem points
Before he ran out of energy, Monfils took a set. But Nadal won the match and there were no injury timeouts or signs that his abdominal muscles or his knees - the two problem points of recent months - were any problem.
On the women's side, another unseeded surprise, Kim Clijsters, beat No. 18 Li Na 6-2, 6-4 Tuesday to set up a semi-final meeting against No. 2 Serena Williams, a 6-4, 6-3 winner over 10th-seeded Italian Flavia Pennetta.
"She plays tough. She plays hard," Williams said of the Belgian.
"Now it's like a totally different level, because she has absolutely nothing to lose. That's when you can play your ultimate best tennis."
Meanwhile, Belgian teenager Yanina Wickmayer has reached her first semi-finals in a Grand Slam at the US Open. In a debut of unseeded Grand Slam quarter-finalists, Wickmayer rallied from 4-1 down in the second set to beat Kateryna Bondarenko 7-5, 6-4 in Arthur Ashe Stadium yesterday.