By XAVIER SMERDON
MOST people will spend their whole life admiring their sporting heroes from a distance, but one Hoppers Crossing teenager is one of a select few that is able to stand right next to his idols.
For the fourth year in a row Kyle Brunner will be a ball boy at this month’s Australian Open tennis Grand Slam.
A tennis player himself since the age of just three, Kyle has been lucky enough to meet the biggest and best stars of the circuit in the world, including Roger Federer, Novak Djokovic and his personal favourite, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga.
“I love being a ball boy,” Kyle said.
“It’s really inspirational to be around these players that I’ve always wanted to be with and be like.”
“To be able to see the players that you’re inspired to be like so close to you is grouse.”
Kyle is now considered an elite ball boy himself, as this year will mark his fourth Australian Open, the maximum amount a person is allowed to do.
One of the highlights of Kyle’s tenure was in 2012 when Greek-Cypriot player, Marcus Baghdatis, went into a now infamous meltdown and smashed four of his own rackets on the tennis court in a matter of seconds.
Kyle was the ball boy required to collect the broken rackets and remove them from the court.
“When he first started smashing them I was in shock, but then I kind of just enjoyed it because the crowd was so loud and you don’t see it very often,” he said.
The first question Kyle is always asked usually relates to whether or not he kept one of the rackets, but he insists that anything like that is removed by officials immediately.
Until the 26 January, Kyle will be one of only 380 ball boys and girls helping the tournament run smoothly and he said once it is over he will continue to focus on his dream of becoming a professional tennis player himself.
