Ball boys and girls help tournament run smoothly

SHANGHAI: Cang Manqing enjoys her job at the Masters Cup, handing out towels and retrieving balls for the world's best tennis players. But she didn't compete for the coveted ball-girl job just so she could brag to friends and classmates. She prefers to bask in the strict discipline and noble history of the sport.

"It's a healthy sport," she said during a break from her duties. "I think in the old times, it was a sport for aristocrats, so it's a sport created for gentlemen and gentlewomen."

Cang, 17, is one of 10 teenage boys and girls who beat out other applicants for the spot at Qi Zhong Stadium in Shanghai. There are also other ball boys and ball girls here from a local sports school, but they didn't have to go through any competition.

Cang said she tries not to feel nervous about her very public position standing in front of thousands of spectators and countless TV-watchers. She just assures herself the audience is not paying attention to her, but to the players.

But during one brief and humbling moment in a doubles match, Cang took a few extra seconds to hand balls to Leander Paes, a player from Calcutta, India who plays with Martin Damm.

"I think Paes is a good guy because I was too nervous and I forgot to give him the ball and he smiled at me, and that greatly encouraged me," she said.

She quickly passed him some balls after he looked at her and pointed.

Cang, who like other ball girls earns 70 yuan a day, said she was inspired to follow tennis because her mother is an avid fan who liked Pete Sampras.

Wang Jiajun, 17, also a 12th grader who wants to attend Fudan University next year, was more explicit about his mindset on the court as a ball boy who mainly runs after stray balls.

"It's nerve-wracking," he said.

Wang was a ball boy during the 2006 Masters Cup in Shanghai and earned a free trip to Wimbledon last year as a spectator due to his performance in China.

"It's stimulating work because I think it's a chance for me to meet the Masters players," said Wang. He worked the Andy Roddick match on Monday.

There is a long tradition of ball boys and ball girls in tennis tournaments. At Wimbledon, for example, local schools nominate candidates and winners must pass a rigid screening process that includes a written test on the rules. They also must be able to stand still for three minutes. Those selected then go through a tough training regiment.

In addition to English-speaking skills, ball girls and ball boys were selected after a selection process that took several months, Cang said.

She and others had to sit through an interview, demonstrate their running skills and recite a few rules of the game such as explaining a tiebreak.

(China Daily 11/15/2007 page24)