Banning High Student Rubs Elbows with Tennis Elite

The ballkids play a vital role in the success of this event. They have to perform flawlessly as they interact with the players and carry out their duties on the court. In their world they don't say much but often are at the beck and call of a tennis player and could almost have degrees in sign language.

All of them go through a rigorous tryout where the numbers are reduced to about 300 and from that group probably more than half are veterans with about a dozen holding experience from other professional tennis tournaments.

While kids between the ages of 12 to 18 are accepted, the average age is about 13. All applicants must undergo seven training sessions held from January through the end of February.

During the sessions, they are rated on a system which uses a 5-step evaluation process. The first two steps are agility while the third is based on proper court position. The fourth step is based on the ability to hold any position, and the fifth is based on the ability to perform on stadium court.

While this was Bobby's first year as a ballkid he has stated that he would like to return next year and hopefully make the finals on the stadium court and be seen by millions of people world-wide.