All week, NY1's Pat Kiernan has been delivering his morning news segments from the U.S. Open, and then he's been spending his afternoons meeting some of the people who make the tennis event what it is. In this latest report, Pat goes on court to learn what it's like to be a "ball person."
It seems like they're always moving.
Even if they're not running, they're kneeling and then running again.
Or standing up straight, and then running again.
A lot of them are too old to be called "ball boys" or "ball girls," so the official US Open title is "ball person."
Francesca Fanchin's been doing it for seven years, since she was 14.
"It's all these kids doing all these things on court," she said. "And I was like, 'I wanna be a part of this. I want to be as close to the action as possible.'"
For two weeks at the end of every summer, Francesca begins every day learning her court assignment.
Before she started with her busy day, I asked her to show me how it's done.
Let's just say it's harder than it looks.
"Always cup the ball with your hands," Francesca told me on the court. "Catch it with two hands so you know that it's never going to come out of your hands.”
Francesca is a "net" person. The other job is the "back" position, which doesn't require as much running, but it's tricky to read the mood of the players.
Francesca: Each 'back' is going to be holding two balls and they serve. And we also manage the towel on the side, so we always have to take the towel to the player.
Pat: And some players are very fussy with the towel.
Francesca: They are very fussy.
It's a long day, often in the hot sun.
Pat: How many hours do you do this, because I'm tired already.
Francesca: I had a 10 to 9 shift yesterday.
Pat: 10 to 9?
Francesca: And I had four courts.
And after all that running, all day, she says one of the toughest things to remember is when not to run.
On the final point, her instructions are to stay still and leave the winner to celebrate.