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September 6, 2008

Queens for a day at U.S. Open

Maple River students get chance to watch pros play

By Shane Frederick

MAPLETON — When Maple River’s Heather Annis and Sara Anderson step onto the tennis court for their matches against Le Sueur-Henderson Monday afternoon, they’ll be seeing a different game than the one they played their last time out.

“I’m definitely more excited about tennis,” said Annis, a senior and the Eagles’ No. 1 singles player. “Seeing a lot of good tennis made me want to play more tennis.”

Last week, Annis and Anderson spent a day at the U.S. Open tennis championships in New York City. The trip to the Big Apple, a long-promised, pre-graduation vacation — they were accompanied by Annis’ parents, Maple River activities director Jeff Annis and Linda Annis, and Anderson’s dad, Eagles tennis coach Tim Anderson — included a full, 13-hour day at the United States Tennis Association’s Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in Queens.

The experience included watching Serena Williams and James Blake from Row X near the top of the 22,500-seat Arthur Ashe stadium to getting up close and personal to other pro players playing and practicing on the outer courts where, according to Jeff Annis, “it’s just like you and me watching a match in Mapleton. You’re right there.”

Tournament spectators need tickets to watch matches in the stadium, but a day pass gets them to all of the other 32 courts on the grounds.

“You’re just mesmerized when you’re there,” Tim Anderson said. “There’s so much to see, and you want to see it all.”

Seeing the speed, strength and size of the best tennis players in the world gave a couple of young prep players a different outlook on their favorite sport.

“It’s just amazing; they’re so good,” Sara Anderson, a junior and No. 3 singles player, said before practice on the courts at Heritage Park. “It makes me want to come out and do what they do. They hit so hard and so accurately; it’s just unbelievable.”

Anderson said they saw Mardy Fish uncork a 134 mph serve in an upset over his buddy and fellow American, Blake.

They also watched Wimbledon champion Rafael Nadal finish off a match, heard women’s superstar Williams’ screeching grunts clearly from the top row of the stadium, studied eventual men’s doubles champions, twin brothers Bob and Mike Bryan display their quick, aggressive version of the game, and even saw legendary champion John McEnroe trading ground strokes with a young player.

“I just think it puts another perspective on the sport,” Jeff Annis said. “You think you’re a good player? You watch them and you think, ‘Hello?’”

It never hurts, he and coach Anderson agreed, for athletes to watch better players in action, whether its junior-high players watching high school matches or high schoolers watching college games.

“Seeing it on TV is not the same as seeing it in person,” Tim Anderson said.

Heather Annis said that seeing the athletes up close also made them seem, despite their extreme talents, like ordinary people who worked hard to get to their sport’s biggest stages.

“I definitely wanted to improve when I came back home,” she said. “I want to be able to hit that hard and serve that hard. ... It is possible for someone to be that good.”

Sara Anderson agreed.

“You see how much time and dedication it takes to get that good,” she said.

Did they learn anything else?

“I picked up some new grunts,” Heather Annis said of some players’ propensity to make exceedingly loud noises with each shot. “But I’m definitely NOT a grunter when I play.”

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