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French Open final intruder facing prison term

(Agencies)
Updated: 2009-06-08 09:12

PARIS - The spectator who confronted Roger Federer during Sunday's French Open final insisted he had only wanted to express his support for the Swiss star in his bid for Grand Slam glory.

The incident, which happened with Federer leading 6-1, 2-1 against Sweden's Robin Soderling, stunned the players, officials and capacity crowd on the Philippe Chatrier centre court.

A man who ran onto the court tries to put something onto Roger Federer's head during his men's final against Robin Soderling of Sweden at the French Open tennis tournament at Roland Garros in Paris June 7, 2009. [Agencies]

A man is carried away by security staff after running onto the court during the men's final between Robin Soderling of Sweden and Roger Federer of Switzerland at the French Open tennis tournament at Roland Garros in Paris June 7, 2009. [Agencies]

As Federer prepared to serve, the spectator, a regular interloper at sports events both at home in Spain and abroad and known by the self-styled nickname Jimmy Jump, clambered over the courtside wall and rushed up to him.

Dressed in the Swiss colours of red and white and brandishing a flag of his football team - European champions Barcelona- he tried but failed to place a red hat on Federer's head.

Security guards ran at the spectator who darted off to the other side of the court before he was brought down and carried off forcefully.

As he was being taken away he was heard saying that he had wanted to pay homage to Federer and make a gesture against dethroned Spanish champion Rafael Nadal, who is known to be a fan of Barcelona's arch-rivals Real Madrid.

He was taken into custody and faces up to 12 months in prison or possibly more if the French Tennis Federation decides to take legal action against him.

Related readings:  Federer advice worked for champion Kuznetsova  Federer into 20th consecutive Grand Slam semi  Federer reveals career debt to wife  Federer rallies for 5-set win at French Open  Nadal's demise opens door for Federer

Federer, who went on to win the match 6-1, 7-6 (7/1), 6-4, said that it had not been the first time such an incident had happened to him during a match recalling similar intrusions at Wimbledon and Montreal.

"I didn't know what had happened until I heard the crowd react," he said. "So that gave me a fright seeing him so close right away.

"Normally they look at you and say 'sorry I have to do this', but this guy looked at me and I was not sure what he wanted. He seemed to want to give me something.

"Maybe I should have sat down and taken a minute to reflect on what had happened. It was a touch scary."

Jimmy Jump has his own self-promotional web-site devoted to his antics both in Spanish and English and on which he sells T-shirts with his own logo on it.

Previous incursions include the recent Spanish football league match between Racing Santander and Barcelona and the 2007 rugby union World Cup final in Paris between England and South Africa.