Williams' stalker stopped in his tracks

Anyone scanning the newspapers in New York could be forgiven for thinking that there was not so much a tennis tournament on as a Williams sisters convention. Such has been the hullabaloo surrounding the two that the rest of the women's draw has been reduced to little more than a support act.

In the early hours of yesterday Martina Hingis and Jennifer Capriati, both grand slam champions, former world No1s and bone fide stars, slipped quietly into the fourth round but still Serena Williams grabbed all the headlines.

Along with the French Open and Wimbledon trophies this year the younger Williams was again confronted with news about her stalker.

In a city which, for understandable reasons, is obsessed with security, Friday's arrest of Williams' unwanted admirer has caused quite a stir.

Albrecht Stromeyer has reportedly been obsessed about Serena and her sister Venus for a long time but he first professed undying love for Serena in February this year when he walked into a hotel in Scottsdale, Arizona, and told the receptionist he wanted to speak to Williams.

On being refused, the 34-year-old promptly removed his clothes and was arrested for indecent exposure. It proved to be the first of many arrests, across several countries, as Stromeyer repeatedly attempted got close to the object of his attentions. In May he was arrested in Rome and deported back to his native Germany; during Wimbledon he was arrested and charged with breaching the peace and criminal damage.

Having been repeatedly charged and repeatedly released, Stomeyer keeps trying. On Friday evening he was spotted by one of the many policemen dotted about the venue as he watched Williams practising and was arrested once more.

Having been arraigned and held on bail, Stromeyer is now awaiting his fate at the hands of the US courts. American law makes specific provision for stalkers of celebrities and he can expect harsher treatment than in Europe.

Hingis could attest to that, having seen her own obsessive fan, Dubravko Rajcevic, sentenced to two years in prison by a Miami court after she testified against him in April 2001. Happily, Hingis only has her tennis to worry about these days and that seems to be going well enough, despite her recent recovery from ankle surgery.

Yesterday she dispatched Amanda Coetzer with little trouble, beating the diminutive South African 6-3, 6-4 and afterwards sounded vaguely surprised at how well her comeback is going, considering that barely four months ago her doctor was publicly speculating about whether she would ever play again.

She needed every ounce of patience to stay away from tennis long enough to recover. "I missed the competition," she said. "You just miss it, to have routine, the discipline, the practice. Like two months, I had no plan, no schedule. I was almost going crazy."

Capriati might sympathise, having missed almost two years for quite different reasons. For a while her extraordinary comeback, which brought with it three grand slam titles, was enough to make Capriati the toast of women's tennis but sport has a short memory and these days she, like Hingis, is relegated to the undercard while the world talks about Williams and Williams.

Not that Capriati's progress so far at the US Open has warranted much fuss.

Now through to the last 16 after demolishing Meghann Shaughnessy 6-1, 6-2, Capriati has yet to break a sweat. Not that she seems to mind. "If I can get through the tournament without being tested at all, I'd be happy," she said.

Capriati plays Magdalena Maleeva next while Hingis takes on Monica Seles in a match which might, for once, knock the Williams off the back pages.