NEW YORK -- The man arrested for stalking world No. 1 Serena Williams will stay in jail until Thursday's court appearance, even if he manages to post bail, the New York City Corrections Department has told Reuters.

Department spokesman Tom Antenen said that Albrecht Stromeyer was still in jail and that an Immigration and Naturalization Service detainer had been placed on him on Sunday afternoon.

The detainer means that even if the 34-year-old German posts his $3,000 bail, he would not be released.

His next appearance at the Queens Criminal Court is set for Thursday.

Stromeyer was arrested on Saturday and is facing three misdemeanour counts of stalking.

A police officer recognized him from a photograph distributed by Williams's management, peering through a fence at the U.S. Tennis Center while the player warmed up for her third-round match against France's Nathalie Dechy.

Stromeyer has pursued Williams at tournaments around the world and has made numerous attempts to contact her.

In early July, Wimbledon Magistrates Court ordered Stromeyer, of Frankfurt, to stay out of trouble for 12 months after he smashed a police camera near the Wimbledon championships venue.

Stromeyer was arrested at the time for causing criminal damage and for breach of the peace while cycling close to the All England Club, the south London home of the Wimbledon tournament.

Police ordered him to stop, but he refused and crashed into them.

In May, Stromeyer, who lives with his parents, was extradited from Italy to face charges of stalking Williams.

He was arrested after being stopped by security guards near the entrance to the Italian Open tournament at Rome's Foro Italico.

Two months earlier, Stromeyer walked into an Arizona resort where Williams was playing and asked to see her. When he was turned down, Stromeyer began undressing in front of the desk clerk. On that occasion he was charged with disorderly conduct and indecent exposure.

Women's tennis officials Sunday attempted to throw a blanket of silence over the latest incident.

After her 6-1, 6-1 fourth-round win over Czech Daja Bedanova on Sunday, the top-seeded American appeared to indicate to reporters that the incident had left her tense and shaken.

When a journalist repeated quotes from her father that he felt she was not taking the threat seriously, she replied: "Oh, no, I'm definitely taking it serious ... maybe too serious. I get so tense and so tight, so serious that I can't relax."

When asked a second question about the arrest, the Wimbledon and French Open champion was interrupted by WTA communications manager John Dolan asking reporters to concentrate on questions related to the match.

Later the WTA released a statement saying Williams had not understood the first question.

It said her response had been in reference to the threat of forthcoming opponents later in the tournament.

Security on the women's tour was tightened in 1993 when Monica Seles, then the world No. 1, was stabbed in the back by a deranged Steffi Graf fan in Hamburg, Germany.

Croatian-born Australian boat designer Dubravko Rajcevic was jailed for two years in April 2001 for stalking former world No. 1 Martina Hingis of Switzerland.