A decade has passed since a Kyabram tennis devotee was ‘retired’ from a role he started as a 12-year-old at one of Australia’s biggest sporting events.
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Now 24, Sam McConnell spent four years as a ballboy at the Open, from 2013 to 2016, and this week he shared his memories of the experience (which only ended because ballkids can’t be older than 15).
The laboratory technician at H.W. Greenham & Sons at Tongala was given his chance to be a ballkid at the Open when a teacher, Sarah Mangan, initiated the trials at Kyabram.
His mother, Justine, spent three weeks in Melbourne with him every January, commuting to the tennis complex by train daily for day, evening or night sessions — while staying with husband Brendan’s sister in Chadstone.
A $25 food voucher kept Sam going for his shift and while there were few other benefits — apart from the odd free ticket here and there for family members — he does recall rubbing shoulders with some of the sport’s greats.
On one occasion, in fact, Sam’s sister Meg and his mother were photographed with Rod Laver during a book launch.
While Sam can’t recall every game that he was involved in at the Open, he did have enough memories to stitch together an interesting yarn on his four-year Open experience.
“I can’t remember my first game, it was probably on the east side outside courts,” Sam said.
“For the first two years as a ballkid I was at the net and for the last two years I was on the baseline.
“Mum was the only one there for that first game.
“I remember I did a game involving Sam Groth (who has the fastest ever recorded serve of 263.4 km/h and is now a Victorian MP) at a lead-up tournament at Kooyong. That was a highight,” Sam said.
Sam and his mother were not alone, however, with two classmates and Kyabram tennis teammates — Aidan Briggs and Winston Finlay — also involved in the ballkid program.
“We played junior tennis at the same time and were in the same junior footy team at Kyabram,” Sam said.
Aidan’s younger brother, Zavier, also joined the ballkid program (in 2014) and a fifth Kyabram junior tennis player was involved for a two-year period — Jess Donaldson.
“She and the Briggs boys were both strong junior tennis players. A couple of us were part of a state school tennis event with Kyabram P-12 College in 2013,” Sam said.
Neither Sam’s two-years-older sister, Georgie, or four-years-younger sister Meg followed in the Lacoste shoes (sponsor of the ballkids outfits) of the middle child as ballkids.
Almost 400 ballkids, aged between 12 and 15, are used each year at the event, which this year runs from January 14 to 28. The application process generally opens in June for the January event the following year.
For every game there are two net ballkids and four baseline ballkids — collecting more than 71,000 tennis balls in several hundred matches for the two weeks of the tournament.
The Australian Open ballkid program is one of the most highly regarded in the world.
Some former ballkids have gone on to become professional tennis players, including Roger Federer.
As is usually the case, the opportunity to become involved in the Open wouldn’t have happened for Sam without his parents, Brendan and Justine.
“Mum and Dad shared the car rides down for training leading up to the tournament. Mum and I stayed with my aunty in Chadstone for the AO.
“They (Brendan and Justine) received Rod Laver night session tickets for one night and one ground pass a day for the duration of the tournament,” Sam said.
The selection process is extensive, more than 2500 applicants for the role. They must first progress through level one trials at tennis clubs across Victoria, then gain the nod at the much more demanding level two trials.
There is even a First Nations ballkid program at the National Indigenous Tennis Carnival in Darwin. Then there are on-court training sessions before the official induction and orientation day.
Sam’s final year involved several big games on Rod Laver Arena, including several nights spent scurrying around the court at the feet of Federer, Serena Williams and Maria Sharapova.
In the men’s singles, Novak Djokovic won three of the four years (among his 10 titles) that Sam was a ballkid at the event, with Stan Wawrinka winning the other event. Victoria Azarenka won two of the four women’s titles and Serena Williams was the 2015 champion.
As for keepsakes from the event, Sam still has his Lacoste ballkid uniforms tucked away in the back of the cupboard — a blue, green and red version of the outfit.
He is still a regular at the Australian Open and probably will be for a while yet. And, who knows, there could yet be another generation of McConnells involved in the Open as a ballkid some time in the future.
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