Nastase arrested twice in a day

Former tennis player Ilie Nastase was arrested twice in the space of six hours in his native Romania yesterday, first on suspicion of driving a car while drunk and refusing to take a breathalyzer test, and then for going through a red light on a scooter.

Nastase had a level of 0.55 mg of alcohol per liter of breath, Bucharest chief police traffic officer Victor Gilceava said, far enough over the legal limit to face a maximum fiveyear prison sentence.

Police initially stopped the 71-year-old Nastase around 4:45 a.m. while he was driving after a night out in the swanky Herestrau Park area of Bucharest. They said he was visibly drunk; he said he’d had three beers. Gilceava said officers had to block Nastase’s vehicle as he failed to stop.

Police declined to say who else was in the vehicle, but Romania TV reported he was with two women. Nastase, currently in divorce proceedings from his fourth wife, Brigitte, is known for loving the nightlife.

The former US and French Open champion, and the bad boy of tennis in the 1970s and early 1980s, refused to take a breathalyzer and officers removed him from the vehicle and handcuffed him.

He was later released as police opened a criminal investigation against him for drunken driving and failing to take a breathalyzer test.

Police stopped him again about six hours later after he allegedly went through a red light on a scooter.

Nastase.