My Corner, Your Corner: Celebrating tennis and an 18th anniversary

September offers us so much — from going back to school time, to football season getting underway, to the break of hot, summer weather and the beginning of autumn.

For me, it’s all of the above, although I’ll miss the hot, hazy days of summer. But as I stated last week, it’s the final tennis Grand Slam of the year and our nation’s premiere tennis tournament, the U.S. Open held at Flushing Meadows, Queens, N.Y.

The site of the Open is the same parcel of land where the 1964 World’s Fair was held. It’s a pretty place and also the site of the famous sphere of the earth.

There are a few reminders of the World’s Fair that still remain such as some rocket ships from the NASA pavilion.

I had a chance to go back to the U.S. Open last Sunday with fellow tennis enthusiast and former Wyoming Area graduate, Mike Saia.

Mike lives in Charleston, S.C., and was responsible for me to work at one the biggest and best women’s tennis pro tour events in the spring each year. The first time I had the chance to work at the tennis tournament was in 2007.

I finally got a taste of what it is like to not only be behind the scenes of a pro tournament, but to actually work for the event was beyond expectations.

Working at the event’s media center is a privilege and honor and it could get a bit overwhelming if you geek out at working with some of the world’s best tennis players and media. People you see on TV are now working side-by-side with you, well it’s pretty crazy to be honest.

I found out early, working with the pros is no time to get fan crazy. You are there to do a job and acting professional is a must. Seeking selfies and asking for autographs is unprofessional and actually forbidden.

The athletes get enough of that outside the media center and know the media center is a safe haven for them.

After Mike left the tournament, I was still able to head down to Charleston to shoot the tournament for an online tennis source, Tennis Atlantic. It still gave me the chance to work the event, but with less pressure and I just get to shoot the matches, do a bit of writing all in the confines of the media center.

In my second year working for the venue, I was assigned to work with the world’s most tennis scholar of the game, Bud Collins.

For eight days, Bud and I, along with his wife, Anita, were inseparable and consequently became good friends — so much so, when Bud passed away, Anita invited me to his funeral memorial service in Boston.

I have Mike to thank for all the experiences I had and still continue to have in professional tennis, so it was fun when he told me he’d fly up to NEPA and the two of us would drive out to the U.S. Open for the day.

We got to the Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in about 2:20. It was one of the fastest trips I made to Flushing in all my years. We parked in the old location of the Shea Stadium, now a parking lot to the new baseball stadium, Citi Field.

It was quite a while since the early days of me attending the Open so it was a bit of a shock to see parking went from $5 and $10 to now $40.

T-shirts were no longer $20 but now $40 and $45. A 12 oz. bottle of water was $6.75. A personal pan pizza was $19 and, well you get the idea.

The venue had changed a lot and it seemed bigger than ever. Gone, however, was the great access to practice courts where you were up can close to the players.

The main stadium back in a day was Louis Armstrong Stadium. Armstrong still stands, but reduced and remodeled and replaced by the larger Arthur Ashe Stadium.

Our seats at Ashe were close to the nosebleed section and at $283 per seat; you’d think you would be sitting closer.

I can’t really complain — it was a great day that started out cloudy and ended up in sunshine and warm temperatures. We saw great tennis; even saw a few old friends, so it was a good day. Even the drive in and drive back home went smoothly. It was a great day to have a great day.

Today is also a great day as I celebrate my rebirth of 18 years cancer free. I can’t believe it’s 18, and early on, I never thought my fifth anniversary was ever going to get there.

I always thought if you can get through five years cancer free, you have a good chance to beat it. Even though it’s 18, cancer still looms in the back of my head. As my late friend who succumbed to cancer, Sammy Agolino would say, “It always feels like there’s a noose over your head.”

I’m lucky I get to spend another birthday this week.

Quote of the Week

“Seems to me it ain’t the world that’s so bad but what we’re doing to it, and all I’m saying is: see what a wonderful world it would be if only we’d give it a chance. Love, baby - love. That’s the secret.” —Louis Armstrong

Thought of the Week

“True heroism is remarkably sober, very un-dramatic. It is not the urge to surpass all others at whatever cost, but the urge to serve others at whatever cost.” —Arthur Ashe

Bumper Sticker

“If you have to ask what jazz is, you’ll never know.” —Louis Armstrong