By Laura Michell
Four Whittlesea teens are among the action at this year’s Australian Open after being selected as ball kids.
South Morang’s Carter and Panos, Whittlesea’s Kitt and Wollert’s Kiara are among 350 ball kids involved in this year’s tournament, including 38 international ball kids from Korea, China, India and France.
Kiara, Panos and Carter are all taking part in their first Australian Open.
Kiara said she was looking forward to being among the tennis superstars and was particularly hoping to see Roger Federer and Maria Sharapova who are her favourite players.
Kiara, who plays tennis at Epping’s Casa D’Abruzzo Club and is also involved in athletics, decided to try-out to become a ball kid on the advice of mum, Anushka, who thought it would be a great experience.
Australian Open tournament director Craig Tiley said ballkids were the “unsung heroes” of tennis.
“The ballkids play an incredibly important role,” he said.
“Our ballkids are put through some of the most rigorous training and selection processes to prepare them for the millions of viewers watching them on the global stage.”
