By Wendy Fee, Junior Leagues Vice President
As the Junior Leagues Vice President, I often hear comments and opinions from the team managers, parents, and coaches. However, those who I don’t get much feedback from are the Junior players themselves. I decided to ask a few questions and wanted to share this platform with some of the 18U players.
Abeer Agrawal-age 15 18U
What do you love most about ALTA? ALTA helps foster competition in tennis in Atlanta.
What does Junior ALTA mean to you? Being a part of a supportive community.
How can ALTA make your tennis experience better? Introduce ALTA into high school tennis leagues.
At City Finals, do you think receiving a plate or a medal would be better for the City Finalists and the City Champions? Plates are better.
Naomi Golan-Williams-age 13 18U
How can ALTA make your tennis experience better? Playing with different age groups.
What are some causes you care about? Advance the Lives & Hope of Atlanta.
At City Finals, do you think receiving a plate or a medal would be better for the City Finalists and the City Champions? Plates are great rewards.
What snack is your favorite at your ALTA matches? Munchos. Love them at matches.
Tanish Killedar-age 15 18U
What do you love most about ALTA? I love the team aspect of ALTA; it feels more like a team than classic tennis, which is an individual sport.
What is more important, winning or having fun? Having fun is more important.
What snack is your favorite at your ALTA matches? Chick-fil-A
How can ALTA make your tennis experience better? UTR should be used in some regard.
Luka Jack Oorreel-age 17 18U
How can ALTA make your tennis experience better? By increasing playing time and reps.
What is more important, winning or having fun? Winning; the fun comes with the win.
Who is your favorite tennis pro? Carlos Alcaraz
Should cheering and team chants be allowed by other players at Junior ALTA matches? Of course, as much as possible.
Audrey Orial-age 18 18U
How can ALTA make your tennis experience better? Playing with other skilled people at different levels to help improve your own tennis skills and getting practice in.
What do you love most about ALTA? I love coming together seeing all my tennis friends play to the best of their abilities, and no matter what, if we win or lose it’s still so fun with all of them.
Will you continue playing tennis as an adult? I definitely would just for the fun of it.
What are some causes you care about? I care about people having a good attitude towards playing tennis and not getting furious and having a bad mindset during the match. Being a good sport is what I care most about.
Ava Claire Reckhow-age 14 18U
What is more important, winning or having fun? While winning is nice, having fun is much more important!
At City Finals, do you think receiving a plate or a medal would be better for the City Finalists and the City Champions? I like plates more because they are unique to ALTA.
Should cheering and team chants be allowed by other players at Junior ALTA matches? No, I think we should just go out and play tennis.
What are some causes you care about? Mental health
Vivaan Sethi-age 15 18U
What do you love most about ALTA? That it’s local and we get good opportunities to play against players all through the city.
Should cheering and team chants be allowed by other players at Junior ALTA matches? No, never. It distracts the players big time.
What snack is your favorite at your ALTA matches? Cliff bars (the peanut butter ones). They are rich in protein and I love to eat it before my matches.
At City Finals, do you think receiving a plate or a medal would be better for the City Finalists and the City Champions? I like the plate or a trophy can be a better option.
Do you think you will be a volunteer for ALTA in the future? Yes, absolutely. When my time comes, I will give back to my tennis society.
Sofia Torres-age 13 18U
What do you love most about ALTA? What I love about ALTA is that I get to play with my friends and get to play against other neighboring kids here in Atlanta.
Should cheering and team chants be allowed by other players at Junior ALTA matches? No, because sometimes it can make you lose your concentration.
What are some causes you care about? Homelessness and animal protection.
How can ALTA make your tennis experience better? In every game I play, I can see how much I have grown, and I can see what I can do to improve for the next game.
Suren Vakalapudi-age 16 18U
What snack is your favorite at your ALTA matches? Samosas are my favorite snack.
Who is your favorite tennis pro? Novak Djokovic is my favorite player.
What are some causes you care about? I care a lot about the American Red Cross, as well as organizations dedicated to treating cancer and finding cures for cancer.
Should cheering and team chants be allowed by other players at Junior ALTA matches? Chanting should be allowed, because higher levels of tennis do include chanting; it should not be a distraction, however.
Jazzy Yammout-age 16 18U
At City Finals, do you think receiving a plate or a medal would be better for the City Finalists and the City Champions? Dinner/Salad plates!
What snack is your favorite at your ALTA matches? We don’t get snacks; only the adults get snacks.
Should cheering and team chants be allowed by other players at Junior ALTA matches? Your opponent should be able to celebrate a good shot they made, but outside cheering is distracting (regardless of what side is being cheered for) and it can get disrespectful and out of hand easily.
What does Junior ALTA mean to you? Junior ALTA has given me the chance to play a variety of different players with various skill sets and helps me to stay active during the off season of USTA.
