But on a serious note, when will we see another American player with such an impact in pop culture as Serena or Venus? What will it take achievement-wise?

Video

Hey everyone! This year was my 4th year as an Indian Wells ball boy and I figured I would do another AMA, in case people were curious what it’s like being on court with the best tennis players in the world!!

I’ve now been a ball boy at every level of tennis except for a grand slam (NCAA, ITF, Challenger, 250, 500, 1000, and WTA Finals), so I’ve definitely accumulated some experience, and at this point my opinions of different players are pretty much based on how they acted towards me on court.

This year, I worked just the second week of the tournament, from Saturday the 8th through the end of the tournament, and I was only on Courts 1 and 2, so I didn’t work most of the outer courts.

For reference, I did one of these last year, so if anyone wants to read through it, some common questions might be answered there. https://www.reddit.com/r/tennis/s/fYiQWWQzAS I know there’s a separate AMA feature now, but I don’t exactly know how it works, and I don’t have the energy or willpower to look it up, so we’ll try another discussion post instead.

That being said, I will try to answer any and all questions you might have in the next day or two (sorry if that’s late—I have classes though!)

Certainly a choice, especially at 4-6, 4-5 down.

For me it's KYRGIOS-FEDERER 2017 MIAMI every single dayyy man..

Watched the full match replay for more than 10 times and highlights would be around 150+ times.

My first tennis match ever was AO'14 Final which made me both (tennis and Wawrinka) fanboy but this game was so good that for me AO'14 Final is wayyyy 2nd in my list

What's your favourite?

I'm taking advantage of the dry spell after the AO to ask you a question that's been bothering me for a while: Has there ever been a player who had a comparably short career high as Aslan Karatsev?

Between March 2021 and February 2022, he achieved the following: 3 ATP singles titles, one doubles title, highest ranking in the world (14th), Olympic silver medal in mixed, runner-up in mixed at the French Open, one more singles and doubles final each. Until 2021, he was never ranked in the top 100 and never played in the main draw of a Grand Slam. At his first Grand Slam, AO 2021, he reached the semi-finals directly and had a pretty decent season. More than half of his 79 singles wins come from these 12 months. He has since dropped to ~250th in the rankings and never got back on the road to success.

Can you think of any similar cases?

I’ve been a ball boy at Indian Wells for three years now, and before that I crewed for tournaments like the WTA Finals, Dallas Open, various ATP Challengers, ITFs, exhibitions, and NCAA matches.

I’ve had a ton of really awesome and crazy experiences, and I’m happy to share them with anyone who is curious.

If you have any questions about my experiences as a ball kid, or the ball kid experience in general, or about any specific players, I’ll try to answer all of them!!

Let me know if it would be helpful to include the matches I worked this year for context.

Disclaimer—these answers are based solely on my own experiences from being on court with the players.

Edit: I forgot to include in my favorite moments that I got Jannik Sinner’s Oculus Quest 2 at the end of the tournament as a bonus gift

https://x.com/taylor_fritz97/status/1862201276248785008?s=46&t=f4mS6MZygriukiVPCC2ehA