By Marisa Bojiuc

(September 17, 2010) The chance of a lifetime to play alongside tennis greats such as Stefanie Graf (you remember her as "Steffi" but she prefers using her full first name these days) and Billie Jean King came true for more than 50 kids from the metro New York area during the opening week of the U.S. Open as they traded shots with the Hall of Famers on the historic Central Park tennis courts.

The event benefited Graf’s Children for Tomorrow. Still looking fit and playing fast, Graf spent three hours on court tutoring and helping the children, offering tips and advice about their tennis games.

"It’s great that Longines has provided this incredible opportunity to these young girls so eager and ready to play tennis," Graf said. "Just like Children for Tomorrow, the City Parks Foundation of New York City offers a wide variety range activities for all these children to take part and learn from."

The event was another part of Longines’ global commitment to support and develop tennis’ super stars of tomorrow.  In addition, the Central Park West Courts provided free tennis to more than 7,000 children last year. Mike Silverman of the City Parks Foundation served as the event emcee and coordinated the four courts used during the clinic.

"It’s places like this that represent the true grassroots tennis movement," said King, who grew up on similar public courts in Long Beach, California. "And I’m just so happy to be here supporting Stefanie’s great Foundation and all the work she does for the Children of Tomorrow."

U.S. Open players Tim Smyczek, Ryler DeHeart and current WTA players Mashona Washington and Jennifer Elie were invited to provide instruction and great enthusiasm on the day.

"These are the types of events that would be very valuable for the next generation of tennis players," said Smyczek. "Tomorrow’s tennis will be very different from today’s. The game is constantly evolving. You see changes in the racquets, strings and the fitness level of players."

Ryler DeHeart believes that having kids compete with one another under the guidance of experienced coaches is always extremely beneficial.

"The more often junior players can be around great champions in their sport and actually interact with them the better," added DeHeart. "It makes something that seems so far out of their grasps and something they would only see on television a reality, which can be incredibly inspiring."

DeHeart graduated from University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign with a degree in psychology/pre-medicine. He has always put academics first having learned the values of education from his family.  Though tennis is a sport to be enjoyed and played with passion, DeHeart emphasized that an education and a degree should be the first priority.

"The trend today is to send an aspiring junior to an academy to focus mainly on tennis and for kids to go straight from the juniors to the pros,” said DeHeart. "I think that this is a dangerous path with limited options and successful pros like John Isner show that college tennis can be a springboard to the pros."
 

Marisa Bojiuc is a long-time tennis writer. Please visit her blog at tennismirror.blogspot.com.