They are those kids dressed in green, wearing their mandatory hat (it’s the law here in Australia), running around the courts in Melbourne Park picking up and throwing balls. They are the Australian Open ballkids, those survived to a long and tough selection process starting all the way back in March of the previous year.
Dominika Bucko (14) and her brother Elias Bucko (12) were among the 4000 boys and girls who had applied to become Australian Open ballkids. They had to go through three rounds of selections, one in March, one in April and one in May. “Each round consisted in two hours of drills – says Andrej Bucko, the two siblings’ father – throwing, rolling and catching balls under the watchful eyes of the Tennis Australia supervisors. After these sessions, the parents of approximately 450 boys and girls received a letter from Tennis Australia inviting their children to the training camps”.
Each middle Sunday during the three following months all selected kids were required to attend the training sessions for hours of drills, and after each session their parents would receive an email from Tennis Canada reporting their children’s progress and the areas that needed to be improved.
“At the end of September the final Main Squad was announced – continues Andrej – three more months of mandatory Sunday training camps, followed by the Australian Open Wild Card tournament in December that was used as a ‘dress rehearsal’ and finally the orientation day in January when they received the visit of Venus and Serena Williams”.
“Out of more than 4000 applications received, only 380 boys and girls managed to become Australian Open ballkids. This year 300 of them are from the state of Victoria, while the others are from other Australian states. Dominika and Elias are among only 23 siblings that have managed to become part of the Main Squad”.
