When I heard that Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer had both withdrawn from the Sony Open I thought of the ball boys and girls, especially one whom I talked to last year while covering the event.
She was from Doral, and came every March with her friends from high school, most of whom were also Venezuelan-Americans. I asked her about players from a ball girl's perspective. The French were the least polite, she and her friends said, except for Tsonga and Monfils, who were nice. Nadal was nice, always saying "Gracias." I figured she'd be in love with Nadal. I asked about Federer.
"I've never worked a Federer match," she said sadly. "I'd trade seven Nadal matches for one Federer match."
