Having A Ball

No sport connects fans to their heroes like tennis, thanks to a unique—and important— job: the ballperson

- Brad Kallet

Laray Fowler was in the hallway of the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in September 2009 when she was stopped by her tennis idol, Kim Clijsters.

“Where were you?” Clijsters asked Fowler after her quarterfinal victory over Li Na.

“What do you mean?” a shell-shocked Fowler replied.

“My whole team noticed you weren’t on the court,” said the former No. 1.

“Oh, I’m sorry,” said the ball girl. “I was doing another match.” That excuse wasn’t good enough. 

“Well you can’t miss anymore,” the Hall of Famer said, tongue in cheek.

Fowler, now 33 and with 20 US Opens worth of ballperson experience, had worked all of Clijsters’ US Open matches leading up to the 2009 quarterfinals. And with an assist from Tina Taps, US Open Ballperson Director since 1989, Fowler would go on to work Clijsters’ semifinal upset of Serena Williams, and was assigned her final-round match against Caroline Wozniacki.

When Clijsters defeated Wozniacki for her second US Open title, the Belgian fell to the court and started crying. Fowler, already at the net, sat down, couldn’t contain herself, and started crying as well. Fowler saw Clijsters in the locker room later that evening and, after congratulating her, they cried again, in each other’s arms.

“Thank you so much for all your help,” Clijsters told Fowler.