Tennis-Open-Federer unnerved by spectator intrusion

By Pritha Sarkar

PARIS, June 7 (Reuters) - Roger Federer said it was "scary" and "frightening" when a spectator jumped on to the court from the stands and tried to put a hat on his head during his French Open final against Sweden's Robin Soderling.

Wearing a red shirt and carrying a red and blue flag, the intruder made a beeline for Federer as Soderling was getting ready to serve at 2-1 down in the second set.

The startled world number two backed away and the man ran around court and jumped over the net before he was rugby tackled by security guards.

"I didn't know exactly what happened. All of a sudden I heard the crowd, and I looked over and he jumped over the fence or something," Federer told reporters after winning his first French Open title.

"That gave me a fright, just like seeing him so close right away.

BREACH SECURITY

Sunday's incident again highlighted how easy it is to breach security at tennis tournaments, especially since it is supposed to have been tightened after Monica Seles was stabbed in the back by a Steffi Graf fan in a Hamburg tournament in 1993.

"The good thing is like it happened before so that's why I guess I didn't panic. It happened in Wimbledon before when two guys ran out on the court, and once I think it was in Montreal when I lost to Roddick when I was playing for my number one ranking in the third set.