They look and feel like tennis balls, but they don’t bounce like them, enabling a happy and newly minted customer to dribble them like a basketball on the way to the court. The Wilson balls have the cachet, but any brand can put a logo on a tennis ball. The streetwear mega-brand, Kith, has made one in collaboration with Wilson in the past. It was $23 cheaper online when it dropped than the U.S. Open ball is on-site, but it will fetch three figures, second-hand and unblemished.
Ordinarily, the gathering of signatures takes place right at the end.
But this U.S. Open, busier than last year’s, which was at that time the busiest in history, requires some forward planning. There are more people and more oversized tennis balls, but the same number of players on the court. So look up at any scoreboard that suggests one of them is not long for the tournament, and you are likely to see a gaggle of giant tennis balls slowly bobbing down steps. Tennis might sometimes turn on a single point, but the kids aren’t interested in a comeback.
Lucia Bronzetti, the Italian who was an eyeful of clay from knocking Naomi Osaka out of the French Open, was in a bad spot Wednesday against Aryna Sabalenka. For most players, that bad spot is just being on a hard court with the Belarusian world No. 2, who is set to defend the Australian Open title for the second time in January. After her 6-3, 6-1 victory, she greeted a “mini-me” fan courtside, dressed in her outfit and carrying a little tiger toy.
“It’s such a motivation to keep going to inspire the young generation. That’s the main goal. Yeah, that was a very adorable moment,” Sabalenka said.
Aryna Sabalenka is greeted by the tennis balls after victory (Julia Nikhinson / Associated Press)
Young tennis fans clutching their souvenir, ready to meet their hero, is kind of cute too. Serving at 1-5 in the second set, Bronzetti more likely saw nothing but an eyeful of woven yellow, the Roman emperor’s thumbs down to her imminent defeat.
Read more about the omen of the jumbo tennis ball here.
