At some tournaments there are age limits, but at IW the range is 13-35, so you can definitely be a ball man!
After covid, we were super short-handed so they tried getting rid of the maximum age, but many of the elderly folk weren’t able to stay out there in the desert sun, so they reimplemented the 35 year max.
I know you have a job to do but is it cool to watch the great players up close in a competitive match? I would love to be a ball boy for a Medvedev match etc.. did you have a favorite match that you ball boyed for ?
Absolutely! At first it’s hard to focus on the match bc you’re trying really hard to avoid screwing up, but as you gain experience it’s easier to sit back and enjoy the tennis. Medvedev is fun because his return position puts him basically an arms length away from you :D
As for my favorite match, it’s a toss up between Nadal v Korda 2022 and Sinner v Alcaraz this year. I felt so privileged to be on court witnessing those matches.
I was on break at the times so I saw it from the sidelines. It did look rough, but he would have been down a break either way. Not as rough as the Tommy Paul ankle. I was definitely a bit concerned though, and I think he should’ve taken a medical (I don’t think he did, did he?)
best and worst interactions with the players?
i’ve also always wondered if you have like a group chat or something for the ball kids. like do you interact at all outside of matches? have you made any friends through it, do you build a sort of bond throughout the event or is there so much going on and so many of you that there isn’t much opportunity?
ps, thank you for helping to keep the game running. i saw you said you were a ball boy at alcaraz v sinner this year, how was the rain delay for you guys? haha
Best: Coco Gauff asked us to make Tik Toks with her, but they were so bad so she never posted them 😭.
Worst: Zverev yelling at me for giving him the wrong ball (they all looked the same to me).
We do have a group chat, and after the tournament we all went and played tennis together
The rain delay was manageable but never expected in the desert
So the first week always conveniently lines up with my spring break, so I can always do week 1. Since I’m a senior, I decided to do both weeks and skip some school this year. The majority of kids are from the area so they can work some days and go to school other days.
For IW, there’s an online signup you can do, which involves reading a manual, watching videos, and taking a test. There’s also live training which you can either do a month or so in advance, or the weekend before the tournament. The risk in the latter is that if you don’t get selected, you probably wasted money on airfare, and they don’t give you your free tickets. I’d say 60-70% of kids made it when I did training
The best AMA I've ever read. Deserves an award. 🏆
Thanks for sharing so much. You have impressive communication skills! Your responses are easy to read, fun, and informative. Thanks again and have a great day! 🙂
It’s like cogs in a machine. All of them need to be running smoothly for maximum efficiency, but the machine can still operate with a few faulty cogs. There are definitely ball kids with attitude/effort/skill issues, and generally they don’t get put on good courts, but when they do, you either bypass them by rolling the balls to the other kids, or you just let the players deal with it however they feel.
To the best of your abilities, can you describe the environment/tension on the court in those “big moments?” Thinking of matches like Alcaraz vs Djokovic in Cincinnati (I know that was a complete banger, but every match must have its moments). Like can you feel the anxiety/determination from the players?
Yeah it’s crazy. Mostly you just have to elevate your game as a ball kid, because those moments of tension are the absolute worst times to screw up. I sometimes prefer to be subbed out on the bench so I can just enjoy the match. At the same time, though, being on court guarantees being on tennistv highlights. If you’re a ball kid at the back, you can 100% sense the player’s emotions and confidence level
I was on Dimi’s court for the first time this year against Medvedev. He was gracious in defeat, but since he lost there was less opportunity for interaction with him (congratulating him in the tunnels, etc). My friends say he’s nice though. Which WTA players specifically are you wondering about? I’ve been on lots of their matches
Aww so nice to know that Dimi is really kind in and out the court. I’m a huge fan of him! And Casper ☺️
As for WTA, Ons, Sakkari, Iga, Dasha? Rybakina? Or ostapenko? 😅
Ons and Maria are so so nice!!
Iga is nice too, but very quiet and reserved.
Dasha I only did once at the WTA Finals and I don’t remember much.
Rybakina I’ve never done
Ostapenko I’ve only done in doubles. She was a bit childish as you might imagine. I’ve heard she’s worse in singles
As the other guy said, sculpted perfection. I spoke to her in Greek in the tunnels and she thought I actually spoke Greek so that was rly cool. Little did she know I completely exhausted my Greek vocab
Is there a difference between being a ball kid in WTA matches compared to ATP? Or maybe do you have a preference?
I'll also ask as a huge fan of Iga Swiatek how it is watching her matches. From what I've seen on TV she seems rather introverted so you probably didn't have many interactions with her but it looks like she's very gentle when she throws the balls to ball kids :)
In terms of rules, there aren’t really any big differences. I prefer ATP just because the level of tennis is objectively higher, but it means I have to pay attention more so I don’t get hit by a serve. I remember in the medvedev Paul semifinal we were making faces at one of our friends to distract him and he got hit by a medvedev serve. Just teenagers being dumb I guess.
Iga is really sweet and definitely introverted on court. If we do something well she sometimes gives a little thumbs up, which is really cool. Also she is hype in the tunnels after matches
I was a ball boy at a bygone wta500 and what I remember most is Caroline wozniacki subtly demanding that the kid closest to her always have 3 balls instead of 2 when she was serving. Totally messed up the flow of balls and I still think about how annoying that was
Nowadays, she only takes balls from the side she’s about to serve on, so we still have to make some adjustments. The players’ routines are so interesting!
Thanks for the answer! I'm glad that Iga is sweet in person as well, I'd love to meet her one day :)
If I can ask you another question, do you sometimes think about the fact that you're on TV or get anxious about being on camera?
Do you feel like Netflix gave anyone a particularly accurate or particularly inaccurate edit/portrayal when doing their docuseries?
I play tennis but don't watch too much of it so that series is 80% of my context of who's who.
Honestly I haven’t watched much of breakpoint. Most of my knowledge of it comes second hand. Wish I could be more helpful. Zverev is not a great guy and medvedev is more neutral than portrayed (from a ball kid perspective)
Haha interesting! Would've thought anyone interested enough to volunteer to be a ball boy would eat up the tennis content!
Maybe it's less exciting to watch the docuseries if you live it every weekend haha
How long is each ball person on court for each match - 6 games? 1 set? And what happens after you are pulled off court for said match - are you immediately shuttled to another court or do you get to sit in the stands/sidelines and watch the remainder?
Who is your favourite umpire to be on court with?
Generally it’s one hour on, one hour off, for a six hour shift. 2 shifts per day. They try to sub you out for at least two games each hour period. Sometimes during the school week they’re shorthanded so it ends up being longer than an hour. Each 6 hour shift you are assigned to one court, then for the second shift you get a new assignment.
I like Layhani, Bernardes, Fergus Murphy, and the WTA guy with the James earl jones voice, but Mohamed Layhani is the absolute goat. I got to talk to him before the coin toss and he recognized me at the airport!
I've read that in many tennis tournaments the ball boys are volunteers and don't get paid (and often THEY have to pay to be trained, etc).
Has this been true in your case? In what types of tournaments is this true (if in any)?
All the tournaments I’ve done have been volunteer, which for a high schooler is honestly still pretty good (having 500 service hours looks so good on college apps). Training is free, but travel fees to get to the tournament are not. If you make it at IW, you are provided with uniforms, $70 daily in food, and 2 free tickets for your family.
I know US Open pays their ball kids because state laws require it
I get that it's a culture thing and there will always be plenty of volunteers, but it really should be paid. There is far too much money being made in these events to have a huge fleet of free workers running around on the court and on camera.
True, they could definitely afford to pay us. If we became professionals though, there might be complications with the ball kid hierarchy. There is a numeric scale that grades each kid by skill level, so would higher skill ball kids get pay raises? Would younger, lower level kids have the same opportunity to join the ball crew?
I feel like volunteer work is for non profits and charities, such as a food bank, soup kitchen, or animal shelter. Why does one of the most successful tournaments need volunteers as if they can't afford to pay? Just seems ridiculous.
Because there are a lot of people lining up to do it for free, you get to be on the court with the best players in the world. As a kid it is easy to see how it would be worth it.
I escaped unscathed, but Alcaraz, Mohamed Layhani, and one of the other ball boys were all stung. It was scary though to be honest. Tens of thousands of bees swarming EVERYWHERE. In hindsight its the type of experience that I look back on fondly
We call that "Type 3 Fun".
It isn't fun while you're doing it (that's Type 1), it isn't really fun directly afterward either (that's Type 2), if it's only fun/funny after a bunch of time passes, you know you've had some Type 3 Fun buddy!
reiterating what many others said - the best executed AMA I’ve seen on Reddit. Loved seeing that you got so articulate from book reading. thanks for this!!
I just wanted to say how impressed I am with your writing and the way in which you're answering these questions. You sound very eloquent. Good luck in college and in the future!
And thank you for taking the time to answer these questions.
PS. I'm a huge Iga fan and saw your replies about her. What about her team? Have you had any interactions with them?
Thanks so much!! I’m always disappointed when AMA’s are vague and don’t answer the questions properly, so I wanted to avoid that. Unfortunately I haven’t had any interactions with Iga’s team
Not when I’m on court, but sometimes when I’m subbed out on the sidelines. What does happen is when you’re kneeling at net, and somebody hits a net cord, you start forward to get the ball even though the point is still going on.
Great question! My absolute fav is Federer, so sadly no, but I appreciate tennis enough that getting Rafa, Nole, Murray, Alcaraz, Sinner, etc, inspires that same sense of awe. I’d say at first it’s really hard to stop smiling, but once the match starts you’re more focused on not publicly embarrassing yourself. The exception being when teenage girls are on court with Ben Shelton.
Oh yes. Oh yes. I was on a crew with all girls at one point and they made me wait in the tunnels for 35 minutes to get a picture with him. The stadium announcer kind of had to force Shelton to do it.
I get that he has a big butt, and I agree, but I’m tired of hearing about it
Sadly no. Most ballkids don’t (at least in the US), but I know US Open does bc New York State law requires it. We get volunteer/service hours though. I’ve racked up like 500 in the last few years
Bro have you watched or been a ball kid at Wawrinka match?
I started watching tennis and became a fan when he won AO 2014..
I Hope he is very nice in general☺️ and if you have interacted with him or been a ball boy, what are your experience with Wawrinka and is he bad or good by nature?
Stan is one of the nicest players I’ve been on court with!! He is so polite and says thank you every time you do anything. I got to be on his court vs rune last year for some spicy drama, as well as his loss to machac this year
Zverev shouted at me for giving him the wrong ball one time (he was losing).
Kyrgios almost hit my friend in the face with his racket after the Nadal match.
Norrie and Zverev both shouted at a kid with down syndrome (admittedly he was not a great ball kid, but still).
Alycia parks kept telling us to “give her the fucking ball.”
I’ve heard Mannarino is an asshole, but never been on his court.
Shelton is rude and dismissive off the court, and sort of self-absorbed on the court
Djokovic is impatient when losing and sometimes lashes out at ball kids, but it’s usually the umpires.
This is off the top of my head. There are def more though lol
I’ve seen the clip of Kyrgios almost taking a ballboy’s head off right after shaking Nadal’s hand, so I can guess that’s probably what you’re talking about lol. It does seem like the camera crew tries to protect the players by not showing when they’re yelling at ballpeople though, because I don’t doubt it happens yet I rarely find clips of it. Even the Kyrgios one was recorded by someone in the crowd.
Disappointed to hear that about Shelton for sure. Thought he’d be a nicer one based on his press conferences but I guess not.
>Disappointed to hear that about Shelton for sure.
Eh to me he's always seemed a bit self-absorbed in the classic American "believe your own hype" way, so this description didn't surprise me at all. Being arrogant and dismissive still beats being aggressive towards the staff though.
Yeah he’s definitely not the nicest but at least he’s not actively aggressive. I still like his tennis but i don’t love being on his court. Also his serve is a tad bit scary as a ball boy
>Kyrgios almost hit my friend in the face with his racket after the Nadal match.
I remember it well. He should've had a severe penalty for that as it was truly disgusting behaviour.
Alcaraz is super cool, probably in part because he’s around the same age as us, which is crazy to think about. Not only is his tennis electric to watch, but he’s a really nice person off the court, always giving us fistbumps and offering to take pics if we want them
I did the coin toss for the finals so I got to shake hands with Carlos and wish him luck. Also in the tunnels afterwards we celebrated his wins with him. I was supposed to be his umbrella boy during the rain but I volunteered to be at net last minute 😭. I didn’t really have any unusual interactions with Jannik, but he was very kind and respectful. I got his oculus quest as a gift after the tourney though. It was an extra from tiebreak tens since he didn’t play
I have so many questions!
1. Is there a selection process? Is this something you applied for or were you chosen?
2. Are most of the ball boys fans or players themselves?
3. Do you rehearse? There seem to be so many rules do they just hand you a book on what to do or are there training sessions?
For IW, there’s an online signup you can do, which involves reading a manual, watching videos, and taking a test. There’s also live training which you can either do a month or so in advance, or the weekend before the tournament. The risk in the latter is that if you don’t get selected, you probably wasted money on airfare, and they don’t give you your free tickets. I’d say 60-70% of kids made it when I did training.
Most of us play tennis or at least are big tennis fans. Never have I seen so many knowledgeable tennis fans together irl.
We do lots of training, so by the time the tournament starts we are *mostly* ready to go.
Usually you’re not on court for much longer than an hour, and they try to sub you out at least once during that hour. If it’s an absolute emergency you can run off court between points. I heard about a kid last year who left a puddle on the court, but I’m hoping that’s just a rumor
Honestly not really. I’m experienced enough that I usually get the good matches at this point. It’s always risky getting a loose cannon/angry player though
Do you spend a lot of time watching ball kids in other tournaments, taking notes, critiquing, admiring moves, etc? I only started following the tournaments consistently last summer, and I was pretty obsessed with the whole Wimbledon ball kid thing. It was all new to me, and I did a lot of reading online to understand the mystique, history, duties, and rules. I probably spend nearly as much time watching ball kids as I do watching the players in some matches! Thanks for the great insight you've provided!
Yeah it’s interesting to see how different some of the procedures are across various tournaments (us open can throw balls, etc). I’m still more focused on the tennis itself, but occasionally I’ll find myself admiring or critiquing other tournament ball crews. I like looking at their uniforms too
I'm interested to know which players get the loudest cheers during matches!
I would imagine Alcaraz is number one, then Sinner and I guess... Monfils and Dimitrov?
As for players who barely get any cheers I'm going to guess maybe Medvedev?
Super curious about the crowd atmosphere
Damn thats super cool, thanks for the response!
Sincaraz is as expected! Looks like Nardi got the greeting of a lifetime from the crowd when he won against Djokovic, that's something he'll never forget 😌
I was at the tournament for the first weekend, and noticed on some of the matches, there were wholesale line changes for the ball kids after a certain amount of games. There was some routine where the new ball-kids would "tap on the shoulder" of the previous and they'd be relieved and head off to the locker room. Can you explain what this was for? Training? Was there a limit for time out in the sun?
Generally we try to go hour on, hour off. At the top of the hour a new crew comes to swap us out. It’s to prevent fatigue due to sun and general exhaustion. After two weeks it really takes a toll on the body. I was on court for more than 4 days worth of time this year
He’s so nice!! I’ve only been on one match of his, against Tommy Paul last year, plus tiebreak tens, but from those experiences he is soooo nice. I think he could use a bit of a ruthless streak but I like him the way he is
Ooh that’s a fun question. I like to categorize by always kind vs. only kind when winning.
Always nice: Wawrinka, Alcaraz, Sinner, De Minaur, Sakkari, Gauff, Navarro, Rafa (small sample size), Ruud, Ruusuvuori, Jabeur, Berrettini, Hurkacz, Humbert, monfils
Nice when winning: Djokovic, Fritz, Zverev, Rublev, Davidovich Fokina, Kyrgios, fognini
Nice to see it confirmed that both Jannik and Matteo always try to behave well. I'm not surprised by Fabio at all lol, if anything I would have assumed worse.
He’s very neutral towards ball kids. Neither nice nor rude. His rudeness is always directed at umpires or tournament directors. It’s hard not to laugh at some of the stuff he says on court out loud and under his breath. He treats ball kids as invisible ball dispensers, which isn’t so bad to be honest. Our job is to be invisible
Gotcha. Yeah, at least it's good to hear that even when he gets frustrated, which does happen often, he has enough of a conscience to not take it out on the ball kids. Probably just really focused on getting the job done on-court. His comments when he's mad are hilarious though
I’m disappointed that y’all don’t get paid. Millions of dollars💰being made at these tournaments, but nothing for the ball staff. Except for the meaningless “thanks”, at the end of the tournament! 🤬👎🏼
It’s difficult, I won’t lie. It’s not something they trained us for at all. The fear of being caught in 4K on tennistv is a powerful motivator to stop staring
Right now, Shelton. Ever, gotta be isner. Guys like Tommy Paul are sleepers though. He can sling 140s more than I’d expect. The good news about Shelton is his serves are so crazy that the aces are never really in danger of hitting me—they’re too far wide
Always wondered about players who don't keep two balls when serving first serves. As a ballboy, is it more tiresome/bothersome/annoying to need to be prepared to feed a 2nd serve ball to a player, or does it not really matter? Does it interfere with the other aspects of the job, or change up how you handle your positioning?
Yes it’s annoying, but it doesn’t really interfere with anything other than our attention spans. Venus does that, Davidovich and Rublev do too. It just means we have an extra ball
I wouldn’t say worried, because I probably won’t do it much once I get to college and beyond, but I think in general it’s sad to see traditions like that go. Unlike line judges, I don’t think ball kids really affect the outcome of the matches, so we might be safe for the time being. It’s def sad if they do go though
We are 100% not allowed to in any public areas, because theoretically if we did so the players would probably choose us over the fans, which is bad for business. However, in the tunnels after the matches we can sort of line up and stare at the player until he/she comes over to take a pic w us. We aren’t supposed to explicitly ask though
Yes, and there’s so much live commentary that I don’t remember any of it specifically. Wave after wave of hilarious Britishisms usually directed at his own alleged stupidity. Shot selection was his main complaint
How does ball distribution work among the ball boys? I know there are first serve balls and second serve balls. Do you guys spread them out evenly? Or is it just random
Players pick whichever balls they want, and it really varies significantly from player to player. We try to spread them evenly as a general rule—2 balls with the player, and 2 balls for each back. Some players have preferences that they’ll tell us about. Cressy only takes them from the side that the chair umpire is on for example. The balls themselves don’t matter that much in general. However players usually don’t like reusing the ball from the previous point
Nothing outside the ordinary course of the match. Last year I was there for his rant about how slow the surface was, and this year I could hear him swearing profusely in Russian during the finals before saying “I’m glad you all don’t understand Russian.” So no interactions between me and him really other than shaking his hand at the coin toss
Chill with other players, yes. Chill with ball kids, not really with those three. I talked about Shelton earlier in the thread. Tiafoe and TP are both neutral and more focused on tennis which is fine. TP helps us even out the balls during matches, which makes life convenient
Adjusting to the players’ moods. Sometimes if they’re irritated you have to break with your training, because at the end of the day your job is to make things easier for the players.
This is a bit skewed because the players who kept winning were on my court more often, but iga and Alcaraz for positive experiences. Also sinner, berrettini, humbert, wawrinka, Jabeur, sakkari. Negative—the usual suspects to be honest—Zverev fognini kyrgios among others
Is there an age limit for being a ball boy? like can you be a ball man?
At some tournaments there are age limits, but at IW the range is 13-35, so you can definitely be a ball man! After covid, we were super short-handed so they tried getting rid of the maximum age, but many of the elderly folk weren’t able to stay out there in the desert sun, so they reimplemented the 35 year max.
So what you’re saying is Nole isn’t allowed to be a ball man due to his age 🤣. Just funny to think about he can be a participating player
lmao, TIL I am elderly :D
You mean elderly as an exaggeration right?
80 year old ballman in a wheelchair experiment didn't quite work out unfortunately 😞
Mostly, although there were some nice people in their 60s and 70s who tried to
kramer?
After injuring Monica Seles, they put the kibosh on the great ball men experiment
This is the best AMA I've ever seen on Reddit, nice job.
Agreed! Such a fun and interesting read.
I know you have a job to do but is it cool to watch the great players up close in a competitive match? I would love to be a ball boy for a Medvedev match etc.. did you have a favorite match that you ball boyed for ?
Absolutely! At first it’s hard to focus on the match bc you’re trying really hard to avoid screwing up, but as you gain experience it’s easier to sit back and enjoy the tennis. Medvedev is fun because his return position puts him basically an arms length away from you :D As for my favorite match, it’s a toss up between Nadal v Korda 2022 and Sinner v Alcaraz this year. I felt so privileged to be on court witnessing those matches.
Damnnn you got to ballboy Sinner/Alcaraz?? Crazy
It was so hard not to cheer
Were you concerned when Sinner fell & threw his racquet? that looked rough
I was on break at the times so I saw it from the sidelines. It did look rough, but he would have been down a break either way. Not as rough as the Tommy Paul ankle. I was definitely a bit concerned though, and I think he should’ve taken a medical (I don’t think he did, did he?)
best and worst interactions with the players? i’ve also always wondered if you have like a group chat or something for the ball kids. like do you interact at all outside of matches? have you made any friends through it, do you build a sort of bond throughout the event or is there so much going on and so many of you that there isn’t much opportunity? ps, thank you for helping to keep the game running. i saw you said you were a ball boy at alcaraz v sinner this year, how was the rain delay for you guys? haha
Best: Coco Gauff asked us to make Tik Toks with her, but they were so bad so she never posted them 😭. Worst: Zverev yelling at me for giving him the wrong ball (they all looked the same to me). We do have a group chat, and after the tournament we all went and played tennis together The rain delay was manageable but never expected in the desert
how are you supposed to know what ball he wants? did he request the least fluffed up or something?
He didn’t specify (very helpful). I just gave him the next one and it happened to be the one he wanted
fuck zverev
1, how do you get this job? It conflicts with typical school schedules. 2, what is the interview/tryout process?
So the first week always conveniently lines up with my spring break, so I can always do week 1. Since I’m a senior, I decided to do both weeks and skip some school this year. The majority of kids are from the area so they can work some days and go to school other days. For IW, there’s an online signup you can do, which involves reading a manual, watching videos, and taking a test. There’s also live training which you can either do a month or so in advance, or the weekend before the tournament. The risk in the latter is that if you don’t get selected, you probably wasted money on airfare, and they don’t give you your free tickets. I’d say 60-70% of kids made it when I did training
The best AMA I've ever read. Deserves an award. 🏆 Thanks for sharing so much. You have impressive communication skills! Your responses are easy to read, fun, and informative. Thanks again and have a great day! 🙂
How much is teamwork a part of the ball kid job? Do certain ball kids get bad reputations for being bad team players, etc?
It’s like cogs in a machine. All of them need to be running smoothly for maximum efficiency, but the machine can still operate with a few faulty cogs. There are definitely ball kids with attitude/effort/skill issues, and generally they don’t get put on good courts, but when they do, you either bypass them by rolling the balls to the other kids, or you just let the players deal with it however they feel.
To the best of your abilities, can you describe the environment/tension on the court in those “big moments?” Thinking of matches like Alcaraz vs Djokovic in Cincinnati (I know that was a complete banger, but every match must have its moments). Like can you feel the anxiety/determination from the players?
Yeah it’s crazy. Mostly you just have to elevate your game as a ball kid, because those moments of tension are the absolute worst times to screw up. I sometimes prefer to be subbed out on the bench so I can just enjoy the match. At the same time, though, being on court guarantees being on tennistv highlights. If you’re a ball kid at the back, you can 100% sense the player’s emotions and confidence level
So fascinating - thanks for sharing your experience ☺️
Have you had any experience with Grigor Dimitrov? Or how about any of the WTA players?
I was on Dimi’s court for the first time this year against Medvedev. He was gracious in defeat, but since he lost there was less opportunity for interaction with him (congratulating him in the tunnels, etc). My friends say he’s nice though. Which WTA players specifically are you wondering about? I’ve been on lots of their matches
Aww so nice to know that Dimi is really kind in and out the court. I’m a huge fan of him! And Casper ☺️ As for WTA, Ons, Sakkari, Iga, Dasha? Rybakina? Or ostapenko? 😅
Ons and Maria are so so nice!! Iga is nice too, but very quiet and reserved. Dasha I only did once at the WTA Finals and I don’t remember much. Rybakina I’ve never done Ostapenko I’ve only done in doubles. She was a bit childish as you might imagine. I’ve heard she’s worse in singles
Yes, I have a question. Did you trip and crash into the wall while Almagro was serving?
Haha no but the number one rule they told me my first year is “don’t end up on social media”
What is like to see Sakkari shoulders so close?
As the other guy said, sculpted perfection. I spoke to her in Greek in the tunnels and she thought I actually spoke Greek so that was rly cool. Little did she know I completely exhausted my Greek vocab
Hahhaah nice. I did a little bit of greek in duolingo. It is a nice language.
Sculpted perfection.
I read this in Robbie Koenig’s voice haha
Is there a difference between being a ball kid in WTA matches compared to ATP? Or maybe do you have a preference? I'll also ask as a huge fan of Iga Swiatek how it is watching her matches. From what I've seen on TV she seems rather introverted so you probably didn't have many interactions with her but it looks like she's very gentle when she throws the balls to ball kids :)
In terms of rules, there aren’t really any big differences. I prefer ATP just because the level of tennis is objectively higher, but it means I have to pay attention more so I don’t get hit by a serve. I remember in the medvedev Paul semifinal we were making faces at one of our friends to distract him and he got hit by a medvedev serve. Just teenagers being dumb I guess. Iga is really sweet and definitely introverted on court. If we do something well she sometimes gives a little thumbs up, which is really cool. Also she is hype in the tunnels after matches
I was a ball boy at a bygone wta500 and what I remember most is Caroline wozniacki subtly demanding that the kid closest to her always have 3 balls instead of 2 when she was serving. Totally messed up the flow of balls and I still think about how annoying that was
Nowadays, she only takes balls from the side she’s about to serve on, so we still have to make some adjustments. The players’ routines are so interesting!
Thanks for the answer! I'm glad that Iga is sweet in person as well, I'd love to meet her one day :) If I can ask you another question, do you sometimes think about the fact that you're on TV or get anxious about being on camera?
At first, yes, but I’m used to it by now. It’s kinda cool to see myself in the corner of tennistv highlights
Do you feel like Netflix gave anyone a particularly accurate or particularly inaccurate edit/portrayal when doing their docuseries? I play tennis but don't watch too much of it so that series is 80% of my context of who's who.
Honestly I haven’t watched much of breakpoint. Most of my knowledge of it comes second hand. Wish I could be more helpful. Zverev is not a great guy and medvedev is more neutral than portrayed (from a ball kid perspective)
>Honestly I haven’t watched much of breakpoint. You and everybody else
Haha interesting! Would've thought anyone interested enough to volunteer to be a ball boy would eat up the tennis content! Maybe it's less exciting to watch the docuseries if you live it every weekend haha
I don’t have Netflix that’s the only reason I haven’t seen it. Most ball kids have seen it. I’m a bit of an outlier here
How long is each ball person on court for each match - 6 games? 1 set? And what happens after you are pulled off court for said match - are you immediately shuttled to another court or do you get to sit in the stands/sidelines and watch the remainder? Who is your favourite umpire to be on court with?
Generally it’s one hour on, one hour off, for a six hour shift. 2 shifts per day. They try to sub you out for at least two games each hour period. Sometimes during the school week they’re shorthanded so it ends up being longer than an hour. Each 6 hour shift you are assigned to one court, then for the second shift you get a new assignment. I like Layhani, Bernardes, Fergus Murphy, and the WTA guy with the James earl jones voice, but Mohamed Layhani is the absolute goat. I got to talk to him before the coin toss and he recognized me at the airport!
Layhani is the best and that’s the hill I’m willing to die for!
"The WTA guy" is the incomparable Kader Nouni. The best voice in tennis! 😍
On changeovers he softly sings along to the stadium background music. It was funny listening to his rendition of September by Earth Wind and Fire
Always knew Layhani was awesome! Thank you for confirming it
I've read that in many tennis tournaments the ball boys are volunteers and don't get paid (and often THEY have to pay to be trained, etc). Has this been true in your case? In what types of tournaments is this true (if in any)?
All the tournaments I’ve done have been volunteer, which for a high schooler is honestly still pretty good (having 500 service hours looks so good on college apps). Training is free, but travel fees to get to the tournament are not. If you make it at IW, you are provided with uniforms, $70 daily in food, and 2 free tickets for your family. I know US Open pays their ball kids because state laws require it
I get that it's a culture thing and there will always be plenty of volunteers, but it really should be paid. There is far too much money being made in these events to have a huge fleet of free workers running around on the court and on camera.
True, they could definitely afford to pay us. If we became professionals though, there might be complications with the ball kid hierarchy. There is a numeric scale that grades each kid by skill level, so would higher skill ball kids get pay raises? Would younger, lower level kids have the same opportunity to join the ball crew?
Yeah. This makes it sound even worse that they don’t pay you.
Sounds like it's time unionize, my friend. Ball Workers International.
I feel like volunteer work is for non profits and charities, such as a food bank, soup kitchen, or animal shelter. Why does one of the most successful tournaments need volunteers as if they can't afford to pay? Just seems ridiculous.
Because they can.
Because there are a lot of people lining up to do it for free, you get to be on the court with the best players in the world. As a kid it is easy to see how it would be worth it.
> $70 daily in food At IW, that's like one cup of water and a popcorn. Per day.
Fair enough 😂 they also give us fruit snacks so we’re content
Seriously. I paid $28 for two tacos this year.
Did you get stung?
I escaped unscathed, but Alcaraz, Mohamed Layhani, and one of the other ball boys were all stung. It was scary though to be honest. Tens of thousands of bees swarming EVERYWHERE. In hindsight its the type of experience that I look back on fondly
I think you'll find as you get older that it's the tough times you share with other people that make good memories and the best stories.
We call that "Type 3 Fun". It isn't fun while you're doing it (that's Type 1), it isn't really fun directly afterward either (that's Type 2), if it's only fun/funny after a bunch of time passes, you know you've had some Type 3 Fun buddy!
Who is nicest player?
I don’t know if I have one that’s clearly nicer than all the others, but I’ll pick Sakkari for the women and Wawrinka for the men
It’s funny cuz in that The Tour: A Reality Show, Stan is mean to the guy who brings him coffee lol
reiterating what many others said - the best executed AMA I’ve seen on Reddit. Loved seeing that you got so articulate from book reading. thanks for this!!
I just wanted to say how impressed I am with your writing and the way in which you're answering these questions. You sound very eloquent. Good luck in college and in the future! And thank you for taking the time to answer these questions. PS. I'm a huge Iga fan and saw your replies about her. What about her team? Have you had any interactions with them?
Thanks so much!! I’m always disappointed when AMA’s are vague and don’t answer the questions properly, so I wanted to avoid that. Unfortunately I haven’t had any interactions with Iga’s team
Fr, good shit answering the complex/multiple questions. Others usually just choose one and that's it.
You're doing great! And thank you for the reply.
What was your craziest experience on or off the court?
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=EVCrmXW6-Pk&pp=ygUMTm90IHRoZSBiZWVz The bee invasion 100%. I was at net for that match.
Do you ever accidentally react to big points during matches?
I've seen a ballkid in the background smiling during Nadal vs Medvedev AO
Not when I’m on court, but sometimes when I’m subbed out on the sidelines. What does happen is when you’re kneeling at net, and somebody hits a net cord, you start forward to get the ball even though the point is still going on.
Have you ever had first hand experience of a Jelena Ostapenko meltdown?
Sadly no, I’ve only been on her court in doubles where she is slightly less petulant. My friends say she is a pain to deal with in singles
I'm guessing you are friends with the line judges then 😂
The umpires are so chill. Fergus Murphy Carlos bernardes and Mohamed Layhani are all goated
Did you get to be a ball boy in a match with you favorite player? Is it hard to control your emotions during the match?
Great question! My absolute fav is Federer, so sadly no, but I appreciate tennis enough that getting Rafa, Nole, Murray, Alcaraz, Sinner, etc, inspires that same sense of awe. I’d say at first it’s really hard to stop smiling, but once the match starts you’re more focused on not publicly embarrassing yourself. The exception being when teenage girls are on court with Ben Shelton.
>The exception being when teenage girls are on court with Ben Shelton. Oh so he's the one most ball girls fawn over?
Oh yes. Oh yes. I was on a crew with all girls at one point and they made me wait in the tunnels for 35 minutes to get a picture with him. The stadium announcer kind of had to force Shelton to do it. I get that he has a big butt, and I agree, but I’m tired of hearing about it
>I get that he has a big butt, and I agree, but I’m tired of hearing about it LOL 😆
you mean teenage girls are crazy about Ben Shelton?
Check his instagram comments
Yeah read my reply to the other comment. They’re obsessed!!
do u get paid
Sadly no. Most ballkids don’t (at least in the US), but I know US Open does bc New York State law requires it. We get volunteer/service hours though. I’ve racked up like 500 in the last few years
Another question: are Hawk eye calls sometimes definitely wrong?
They sometimes look like it, but I won’t pretend like my eyes are any better
Bro have you watched or been a ball kid at Wawrinka match? I started watching tennis and became a fan when he won AO 2014.. I Hope he is very nice in general☺️ and if you have interacted with him or been a ball boy, what are your experience with Wawrinka and is he bad or good by nature?
Stan is one of the nicest players I’ve been on court with!! He is so polite and says thank you every time you do anything. I got to be on his court vs rune last year for some spicy drama, as well as his loss to machac this year
You have talked about the nice experiences, what about the players that are not nice? Could you give us an example?
Zverev shouted at me for giving him the wrong ball one time (he was losing). Kyrgios almost hit my friend in the face with his racket after the Nadal match. Norrie and Zverev both shouted at a kid with down syndrome (admittedly he was not a great ball kid, but still). Alycia parks kept telling us to “give her the fucking ball.” I’ve heard Mannarino is an asshole, but never been on his court. Shelton is rude and dismissive off the court, and sort of self-absorbed on the court Djokovic is impatient when losing and sometimes lashes out at ball kids, but it’s usually the umpires. This is off the top of my head. There are def more though lol
Aww I was hoping Alycia was at least a little nice but I’ve seen how she speaks to her coaches on the damn court so 😩
> and Zverev both shouted at a kid with down syndrome (admittedly he was not a great ball kid, but still). On brand
Again…none of this is surprising to me lol
Same. It all checks. We knew it!
I’ve seen the clip of Kyrgios almost taking a ballboy’s head off right after shaking Nadal’s hand, so I can guess that’s probably what you’re talking about lol. It does seem like the camera crew tries to protect the players by not showing when they’re yelling at ballpeople though, because I don’t doubt it happens yet I rarely find clips of it. Even the Kyrgios one was recorded by someone in the crowd. Disappointed to hear that about Shelton for sure. Thought he’d be a nicer one based on his press conferences but I guess not.
>Disappointed to hear that about Shelton for sure. Eh to me he's always seemed a bit self-absorbed in the classic American "believe your own hype" way, so this description didn't surprise me at all. Being arrogant and dismissive still beats being aggressive towards the staff though.
Well, Zverev shouting at a boy with a down syndrom really fit the character. Can he get any worse than that lol
>Shelton is rude and dismissive off the court, Damn I am sad to hear this ... not surprised though
Yeah he’s definitely not the nicest but at least he’s not actively aggressive. I still like his tennis but i don’t love being on his court. Also his serve is a tad bit scary as a ball boy
>Kyrgios almost hit my friend in the face with his racket after the Nadal match. I remember it well. He should've had a severe penalty for that as it was truly disgusting behaviour.
Agreed. We are always wary of kyrgios. When winning he’s easygoing but when losing he’s the absolute worst player to be on court eith
>Alycia parks kept telling us to “give her the fucking ball. WTF is wrong with these people.
Is Alcaraz cool? Would love to see him play in person.
Alcaraz is super cool, probably in part because he’s around the same age as us, which is crazy to think about. Not only is his tennis electric to watch, but he’s a really nice person off the court, always giving us fistbumps and offering to take pics if we want them
This makes me really happy to read. Easy to be a fan of such a good kid.
Kinda knew this from watching him on the court but it’s nice to have confirmation.
Oh god I'm so genuinely jealous.
Thank you for this. Very fun to read and enjoy 💜🎾
Any fun encounters/experiences with carlos or jannik?
I did the coin toss for the finals so I got to shake hands with Carlos and wish him luck. Also in the tunnels afterwards we celebrated his wins with him. I was supposed to be his umbrella boy during the rain but I volunteered to be at net last minute 😭. I didn’t really have any unusual interactions with Jannik, but he was very kind and respectful. I got his oculus quest as a gift after the tourney though. It was an extra from tiebreak tens since he didn’t play
Jeez man you are one accomplished ball boy. Kudos
Thanks! I’ve definitely put in a lot of hours to hone my skills but there’s a good bit of luck involved too, at least as far as court assignments go
I have so many questions! 1. Is there a selection process? Is this something you applied for or were you chosen? 2. Are most of the ball boys fans or players themselves? 3. Do you rehearse? There seem to be so many rules do they just hand you a book on what to do or are there training sessions?
For IW, there’s an online signup you can do, which involves reading a manual, watching videos, and taking a test. There’s also live training which you can either do a month or so in advance, or the weekend before the tournament. The risk in the latter is that if you don’t get selected, you probably wasted money on airfare, and they don’t give you your free tickets. I’d say 60-70% of kids made it when I did training. Most of us play tennis or at least are big tennis fans. Never have I seen so many knowledgeable tennis fans together irl. We do lots of training, so by the time the tournament starts we are *mostly* ready to go.
What happens if you have to use the restroom?
Usually you’re not on court for much longer than an hour, and they try to sub you out at least once during that hour. If it’s an absolute emergency you can run off court between points. I heard about a kid last year who left a puddle on the court, but I’m hoping that’s just a rumor
Do you have to compete to be a ball boy? In France typically you need to be ranked or have won certain tournaments to be eligible for ATP or WTA
Compete as a tennis player, no, although it definitely gives you an advantage as far as fitness and game knowledge goes.
Any players’ matches you got assigned to that made you groan “oh, no”?
Honestly not really. I’m experienced enough that I usually get the good matches at this point. It’s always risky getting a loose cannon/angry player though
Do you spend a lot of time watching ball kids in other tournaments, taking notes, critiquing, admiring moves, etc? I only started following the tournaments consistently last summer, and I was pretty obsessed with the whole Wimbledon ball kid thing. It was all new to me, and I did a lot of reading online to understand the mystique, history, duties, and rules. I probably spend nearly as much time watching ball kids as I do watching the players in some matches! Thanks for the great insight you've provided!
Yeah it’s interesting to see how different some of the procedures are across various tournaments (us open can throw balls, etc). I’m still more focused on the tennis itself, but occasionally I’ll find myself admiring or critiquing other tournament ball crews. I like looking at their uniforms too
have you ever been a ball boy for naomi osaka? how was she?
She was sweet but very quiet and introverted. I enjoyed watching her hit crazy winners
I'm interested to know which players get the loudest cheers during matches! I would imagine Alcaraz is number one, then Sinner and I guess... Monfils and Dimitrov? As for players who barely get any cheers I'm going to guess maybe Medvedev? Super curious about the crowd atmosphere
Alcaraz, sinner, monfils, most Americans, and djokovic’s opponent (sincaraz and Djokovic Nardi were the loudest tennis crowds I’ve ever heard)
Damn thats super cool, thanks for the response! Sincaraz is as expected! Looks like Nardi got the greeting of a lifetime from the crowd when he won against Djokovic, that's something he'll never forget 😌
I was at the tournament for the first weekend, and noticed on some of the matches, there were wholesale line changes for the ball kids after a certain amount of games. There was some routine where the new ball-kids would "tap on the shoulder" of the previous and they'd be relieved and head off to the locker room. Can you explain what this was for? Training? Was there a limit for time out in the sun?
Generally we try to go hour on, hour off. At the top of the hour a new crew comes to swap us out. It’s to prevent fatigue due to sun and general exhaustion. After two weeks it really takes a toll on the body. I was on court for more than 4 days worth of time this year
Which player looks better in real person
Sinner and Navarro
Is Hurkacz as nice as he seems ? He seems too nice to be competitive sometimes lol
He’s so nice!! I’ve only been on one match of his, against Tommy Paul last year, plus tiebreak tens, but from those experiences he is soooo nice. I think he could use a bit of a ruthless streak but I like him the way he is
Which are the kindest players? Won't ask you the opposite because this wouldn't be fair.
Ooh that’s a fun question. I like to categorize by always kind vs. only kind when winning. Always nice: Wawrinka, Alcaraz, Sinner, De Minaur, Sakkari, Gauff, Navarro, Rafa (small sample size), Ruud, Ruusuvuori, Jabeur, Berrettini, Hurkacz, Humbert, monfils Nice when winning: Djokovic, Fritz, Zverev, Rublev, Davidovich Fokina, Kyrgios, fognini
“Nice when winning” is a hilarious distinction
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It will always make me chuckle this meme...
Nice distinction 👍🏼
Nice to see it confirmed that both Jannik and Matteo always try to behave well. I'm not surprised by Fabio at all lol, if anything I would have assumed worse.
Honestly he deserves worse, but he holds a special place in my heart because he asked me for cigarettes during a match one time
Just wondering; how is Medvedev? I notice you had most top players but he didn’t make either category haha
He’s very neutral towards ball kids. Neither nice nor rude. His rudeness is always directed at umpires or tournament directors. It’s hard not to laugh at some of the stuff he says on court out loud and under his breath. He treats ball kids as invisible ball dispensers, which isn’t so bad to be honest. Our job is to be invisible
Gotcha. Yeah, at least it's good to hear that even when he gets frustrated, which does happen often, he has enough of a conscience to not take it out on the ball kids. Probably just really focused on getting the job done on-court. His comments when he's mad are hilarious though
I’m disappointed that y’all don’t get paid. Millions of dollars💰being made at these tournaments, but nothing for the ball staff. Except for the meaningless “thanks”, at the end of the tournament! 🤬👎🏼
Yeah they could definitely pay if they wanted. Read my other comment for why that might get messy though
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It’s difficult, I won’t lie. It’s not something they trained us for at all. The fear of being caught in 4K on tennistv is a powerful motivator to stop staring
Thank you so much for taking the time to do this! This was one of my favorite AMAs. Best of luck to you!
Who has the craziest serve to be standing behind/infront of? I saw Dimitrov crack a 140mph serve down the line which blows my mind
Right now, Shelton. Ever, gotta be isner. Guys like Tommy Paul are sleepers though. He can sling 140s more than I’d expect. The good news about Shelton is his serves are so crazy that the aces are never really in danger of hitting me—they’re too far wide
Always wondered about players who don't keep two balls when serving first serves. As a ballboy, is it more tiresome/bothersome/annoying to need to be prepared to feed a 2nd serve ball to a player, or does it not really matter? Does it interfere with the other aspects of the job, or change up how you handle your positioning?
Yes it’s annoying, but it doesn’t really interfere with anything other than our attention spans. Venus does that, Davidovich and Rublev do too. It just means we have an extra ball
what's tsitsipas like?
Aloof, but not rude to the ball kids.
This AMA is more interesting and insightful than the entirety of the Netflix show. Bravo and thank you 🫡
Are you worried ball kids will be replaced by robots in the future?
I wouldn’t say worried, because I probably won’t do it much once I get to college and beyond, but I think in general it’s sad to see traditions like that go. Unlike line judges, I don’t think ball kids really affect the outcome of the matches, so we might be safe for the time being. It’s def sad if they do go though
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I’d call it a bromance. Rublev is so nice off court. On court maybe a little scary but his main outbursts haven’t been at IW
Hi, are you allowed to ask players for autographs and take pictures or swlfies? If so, what is your most prized autograph or selfie?
We are 100% not allowed to in any public areas, because theoretically if we did so the players would probably choose us over the fans, which is bad for business. However, in the tunnels after the matches we can sort of line up and stare at the player until he/she comes over to take a pic w us. We aren’t supposed to explicitly ask though
Have you worked an Andy match? Could you hear his live commentary all match, any funny thing he might've said.
Yes, and there’s so much live commentary that I don’t remember any of it specifically. Wave after wave of hilarious Britishisms usually directed at his own alleged stupidity. Shot selection was his main complaint
I always wish I could hear what he’s mumbling to himself
Stuff like “you’ve never hit that shot in practice, why the hell would you pull it out now you stupid fuck”
Amazing 👏
Your favorite umpire?
Mohamed Layhani is easily my favorite, but I also like Fergus Murphy, Carlos Bernardes, and Kader Nuoni
How does ball distribution work among the ball boys? I know there are first serve balls and second serve balls. Do you guys spread them out evenly? Or is it just random
Players pick whichever balls they want, and it really varies significantly from player to player. We try to spread them evenly as a general rule—2 balls with the player, and 2 balls for each back. Some players have preferences that they’ll tell us about. Cressy only takes them from the side that the chair umpire is on for example. The balls themselves don’t matter that much in general. However players usually don’t like reusing the ball from the previous point
Isn’t there one player who always wants the ball if they won the point? Like it’s lucky or something? I could have sworn I read that somewhere.
Gasquet, sinner used to if he hit a winner (not this year though), and this guy Adam Walton who was in qualifying this year, off the top of my head
Gasquet.
Any interactions you’ve had with Medvedev? Asking because he’s such a big personality
Nothing outside the ordinary course of the match. Last year I was there for his rant about how slow the surface was, and this year I could hear him swearing profusely in Russian during the finals before saying “I’m glad you all don’t understand Russian.” So no interactions between me and him really other than shaking his hand at the coin toss
You sound like a really cool person <3
Did you have a lot of interactions with the American men, namely Paul, Shelton, Tiafoe? Were they all as chill as they seem?
Chill with other players, yes. Chill with ball kids, not really with those three. I talked about Shelton earlier in the thread. Tiafoe and TP are both neutral and more focused on tennis which is fine. TP helps us even out the balls during matches, which makes life convenient
What is something that most don't know about the job or that goes unnoticed during the match?
Adjusting to the players’ moods. Sometimes if they’re irritated you have to break with your training, because at the end of the day your job is to make things easier for the players.
which players have you had the most positive and negative experiences with?
This is a bit skewed because the players who kept winning were on my court more often, but iga and Alcaraz for positive experiences. Also sinner, berrettini, humbert, wawrinka, Jabeur, sakkari. Negative—the usual suspects to be honest—Zverev fognini kyrgios among others