On the ball at the U.S. Open

Long Island ball boys talk about ‘the best seat in the house’

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When you think about it, there are very few opportunities to play a key role in a major, internationally televised sporting event when you aren’t the featured athlete. One of those rarities exists at the U.S. Open.

This year, nearly 500 people tried out for one of the coolest jobs of the summer — the position of “ball person.” During a tennis match, it’s the ball person’s responsibility to run after and catch tennis balls when they go out, feed balls to major tennis players when they’re ready to serve, and coordinate it all so that it looks like a seamless, automatic routine between the six ball people who man the courts during each game.

Twenty-three-year-old Lynbrook resident Mikayel Ayvazyan, who has been a ball boy at the U.S. Open every year since 2008, and is one of the lucky 80 people chosen for the job this year, said the experience is such a thrill for him that he uses his vacation time from work to do it. “I take a week and a half, two weeks vacation from my job just to be at the US Open,” said Ayvazyan, adding that his manager at the CVS in Valley Stream is already well aware of his annual calling to the National Tennis Center.

Ayvazyan said those who wish to be ball people at the Open are initially tested each June for their catching and throwing skills, as well as speed, agility, attention and arm strength. After the tryouts, everyone returns home to wait for a call back, and after that, a letter informing them whether or not they made it.

Though he loves the sport and has been playing since he was 5, Ayvazyan doesn’t have any dreams of being a competitor in the Open. It’s just the love of the game that keeps him coming back. “It’s the best seat in the house, it’s a wonderful experience for me, at least because I’m a big fan of the top players,” he said. “When I’m on the court with them — it’s just indescribable.”

Hudson and Lee Kaylie from Great Neck feel the same way. The brothers, 16 and 15 respectively, will be ball boys at the Open this year. “This is something that helps us get closer to the players,” said Lee, “and it beats any seat in the house.” Hudson agreed. “You get to talk to players when they need something. You can get drinks from the lounge. Sometimes they give you things, like their headbands and bottles. It’s good.”

Like Ayvazyan, the two brothers are also experienced ball people, with Lee starting his second year at the Open and Hudson his third.

Ball people can try out for the job at only 14 years of age, and there are no age limits — as long as the requirements of the job are met. Starting salary is minimum wage, and it goes up if you are called back the following year.

Tina Taps, manager of tennis programs at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center and the Open’s director of ballpersons said her team of ballpersons is a family. “It’s a brotherhood and sisterhood of ballpersons,” Taps said. “It’s really a unique team environment, and there’s nothing like it.”