Recently, big tennis dreams came true for 24 Roslyn students and their parents. These young players had the opportunity that most tennis players only dream of, to play at the U.S. Open tennis tournament. The children, ages 5-12, are all members of Net Generation, the official youth tennis program of the USTA. Roslyn coaches Kerri Jannotte-Hinkley and Wilfredo Abrahante were the on-court coaches for the event and also got to participate in the demo.
In addition, two players were chosen to the coin toss for the pro-players on the court. Roslyn students got to play in the grandstand. The kids were able to meet some of the professional tennis players. The two coin tossers were East Hills fourth grader, Eduardo Ramos and Harbor Hill fifth grader Ariya Shukla. Ramos did the coin toss for the mens’ doubles players, Oliver Marach/ Jurgen Melzer and Miomir Kecmanovic/Casper Ruud—while Shukla had the opportunity to meet the doubles teams of Coco Gauff /Caty McNally and Victoria Azarenka/Ashleigh Barty.
Every player that participated in the on court demo did an amazing job. When asked what the best part of the day, seventh grader Sofia Arnold said, “I loved playing on the court where the pros play and also getting to see Coco and Caty in the hallway of the grandstand.”
More than 1,000 players from across the county participated in the Net Gen on court demos program at the U.S. Open.
“I was thrilled for our group to be chosen for the Net Generation event,” Jannotte-Hinkley said. “The kids practiced all summer to be ready and made us all so proud. Watching them play the sport that I love at the U.S. Open was amazing. We couldn’t have done it without the hard work from the players and the support of all of the parents.”
—Submitted by the Roslyn School District
