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Rafael Nadal is blogging again for The Times Online during his US Open campaign and discusses the "stolen kiss" incident:

Hello everyone,

Hope you all are good. I am great and feeling very good. Yesterday it was very late when I posted my blog. I think that it is the first time ever I have done it after coming back from the tournament so late. I ended up going to sleep after 4 am. It is quite late even for a Spaniard... Specially if you are a tennis player and have to play.

Many people asked me today about yesterday's match. I said to everyone who asked me that I found I played better, starting to feel good. But when I was elaborating on my game I was immediately cut and asked not about the match but about the incident of the guy jumping on court and kissing me and everything you've seen on TV.

To be honest, I didn't see the guy coming. I'd just taken my shirt off to change it when I saw a guy coming to me, kissing me and saying that he loved me... Then I saw the security jumping to him. I didn't think it was important, not serious, and tried to stop the security at some point to leave the guy. You can actually read my lips saying "it's OK". Not that I know a lot of English to explain to them that it was OK, that he was cool and that for me it was OK. Not that I liked the kiss... :-)

So I didn't really give too much importance to it. I just thought, as I say it was funny.

I understand that the tournament's security got nervous, but I was cool with it. As a matter of fact, when I was in the locker room, one of the main guys of the tournament, David Brewer, came to the locker and asked me if I was OK and if the guy had hurt me. I told him I was fine and to please not to do anything to the guy. Jokingly I said "One fan I have tonight - please leave him". I was told that the guy was going to be prosecuted (I think it is the correct way to say it). Hope he is OK.

I understand it is a delicate issue but I have to say that this tournament really takes good care of me. They are really, really nice with me and have lots of attentions with me and my team. From my side no complaints whatsoever, on the contrary I have to thank them for everything they do. Maybe the only complaint is the scheduling... We'll talk another day about that...

Hope this whole thing is taken positively and no one suffers for something like this.

So thanks US Open staff for everything.

The New York Times' article on the incident -

Reporters who were courtside said that Williams approached the line judge and they heard Williams shout profanity at her. Holding a ball, Williams said to the lineswoman that “you don’t know me,” appearing to inject it with profanity. Then Williams added that the linewoman was lucky that Williams was not, according to The Miami Herald, “shoving this ball down your throat.”

Illustrator/artist Vietnam the Movie, based out of Stroud in Gloucestershire, has come up with another series of impressionistic limited-edition prints of some our fave ballers including Andy Murray, Rafael Nadal, Serena Williams, and Roger Federer.

made using:
http://www.xtranormal.com/

NEW YORK - SEPTEMBER 05: Maria Sharapova of Russia walks off the court after being defeated by Melanie Oudin of the United States during her match against during day six of the 2009 U.S. Open at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center on September 5, 2009 in the Flushing neighborhood of the Queens borough of New York City.