Rafael Nadal’s on-court kisser faces charges

Hey, I’d wanna kiss Rafael Nadal too – especially with his shirt off! – but that doesn’t mean you do a freaky thing like run onto the court at the US Open and plant your lips on the Spanish tennis star.

That’s what a man named Noam U. Aorta of New York City did on Tuesday night. After Nadal finished his match, Aorta dashed out of the stands at Arthur Ashe Stadium and hugged and kissed Rafa as he was changing shirts on the sideline.

As a result, stadium security was bulked up for Wednesday night’s matches at the U.S. Open – something that should be done anyway. We learned from the horrific Monica Seles stabbing incident in 1993 that tennis stars are so vulnerable to on-court intruders. A man even dashed onto the court during the men’s final of the French Open and rattled Roger Federer a bit.

It should not be happen – ever.

“There was a breakdown,” U.S. Open spokesman Chris Widmaier acknowledged.

Anyway, this knucklehead Aorta 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 $5,000 in fines.

District Attorney Richard Brown called it “particularly disturbing” because Aorta made physical contact with Nadal and made mention 0f the Seles stabbing.