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HORSHAM siblings Nia and Archie Harrison are volunteering as ballkids at the Australian Open in Melbourne. Nia, 14, will share her grand slam experiences with diary entries in the Mail-Times.
IT WAS Archie’s fault.
He was rostered on at 11am for the first day of the Australian Open, so I thought I was too.
However, when I turned up early – such a good ballkid – I soon discovered that I had managed to misread my roster and mistake a 10 for an 11, so I was an hour late on my first day as a National Woolworths Ballkid.
What a great start!
Archie was rostered onto court 19, which he happily discovered had a great big grandstand, and I became a TBA or emergency as that’s what you get when you’re late to the job.
We finished the qualifying rounds in a breeze and it certainly acted as practice makes perfect for the real thing on Monday.
Saturday was Kids Tennis Day with Justice Crew and some top tennis players doing a show at Rod Laver.
The qualifying rounds then ended on Saturday afternoon with me saving a ballkid’s life.
We were standing alongside each other waiting to cross a road when a tram was coming. I could see it was going to run straight into his backpack and push him over, so I shoved him out of the way.
I reckon I just saved him a nudge but he was certain he would’ve been gone for good if it wasn’t for me.
So, I’m now Melbourne’s new superhero. But what’s even crazier is that after my heroic act, I gave him directions!
If you know me well you will understand how crazy this is.
I hardly know my way around Horsham, even though I was born there nearly 15 years ago, but after one week in Melbourne, I’m giving directions.
It’s definitely a proud moment in my life; I just hope I gave him the right directions.
On Sunday, Archie and I were interviewed by Todd Woodbridge with Channel 7.
We spoke about what it’s like to be a ballkid and who we want to see on court – Federer!
I’m not actually sure why we were chosen – other than me and all four of my brothers have worked at the Australian Open – but I’m not complaining as it was an amazing experience.
They will try to film some footage of us on the job this week and plan to show the interview during the men’s final, which has an audience of two million.
So, if you’re watching, look out for our famous faces.
I thought the Kids Tennis Day was pretty busy but day one of the Australian Open had a record crowd of 71,171 people.
It took us a good 20 minutes to head to court when it previously only took us five.
Every grandstand was filled and every space occupied.
After being TBA for most of the morning, I managed to sneak onto court 11 when a baseline ballkid became sick – lucky me.
I only ended up doing one shift on court, but it was still amazing.
That night, after both Archie and I signed out, we headed to Rod Laver Arena with mum and dad to watch Roger Federer play Yen-Hsus Lu.
All the ballkids were given two free tickets to the game so we saw lots of familiar faces sitting around us – and a very familiar face on court too.
On Tuesday, both Archie and I were rostered onto court10, but in different squads, so we passed each other every hour when we went off and on court.
This gave us both a brief opportunity to see each other in action. He’s not bad!
Roger Federer even once labelled the Australian Open as the ‘Happy Open’ – I couldn’t agree more.
On Wednesday, Archie had a lucky break. I was on court 10 again, and Archie on court 15, both doing doubles matches for the first time.
If anything, this is actually less work, as the doubles partner often retrieves the ball if it goes into the net.
Archie’s court finished all matches, and his squad was transferred to show court three to ballkids for the last set of the Kyrgios-Karlovic match.
Mum queued for one and a half hours to get onto the court – mum doesn’t usually ‘do queues’ – and as it was being televised, family and friends immediately played the ‘spot Archie’ game at home.
My family hit the record button, but rather frustratingly recorded the wrong channel. Mum scored a few photos though.
Archie said Kyrgios was actually really funny, fist-pumping the ballkids and commenting on his opponent’s great shots.
Archie was rostered onto the people’s court on Thursday morning.
Three hundred tennis fans could register before December 30 to play on this court to give them a total Australian Open playing experience, complete with a chair umpire, ballkids, statistician and court services.
Just like every Australian competitor, all players will receive an official player towel along with a highlights video of their on-court performance.
On Thursday I was TBA – to be advised. A request came in for a base ballkid, so I put my hand up and was put on court 19.
Within seconds, another base ballkid was needed, and he was put on Margaret Court – with Venus Williams then Stan Wawrinka!
And within minutes of this, another base ballkid was put on show court two, with John Isner.
If only I’d waited.
Archie and I are feeling so much more confident about ballkidding.
Mum says it’s like driving a car and the more you do it, the easier it gets. I absolutely love being here, being on court, being ‘behind the scenes’.
For years Archie and I have watched our brothers, Fred, Ollie and Joe, disappear into accreditation-only areas in their smart uniforms, and now we get the privilege to go there.
Everything about this tournament is just top quality and all the players and spectators love it.
Roger Federer even once labelled the Australian Open as the ‘Happy Open’ – I couldn’t agree more.