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Jewish World Review Sept. 14, 2000 / 13 Elul, 5760
http://www.jewishworldreview.com --
MOST of the tennis fans who watched broadcasts of the U.S. Open the last few weeks probably didn’t
notice the teen with the yarmulke running around the courts.
That’s fine with Craig Weitzman.
“The only time they see you is when you mess up,” says Weitzman, who served as a ballboy during the
Grand Slam tournament at the USTA National Tennis Center in Flushing Meadow Park, Queens.
Weitzman, 17, of Woodmere, says he is the first Sabbath-observant, yarmulke -wearing ballboy in U.S. Open
history. He is a senior at the Hebrew Academy of Five Towns and Rockaway in Cedarhurst.
In this, the summer of Joe Lieberman, Weitzman’s stint at one of the world’s most prestigious athletic
events is another sign that an Orthodox Jew can do anything in American society, he says.
Weitzman wore a baseball cap to the first pair of tryouts. At the third round he wore his accustomed
skullcap, blue suede with a gold trim, and explained his exemption from work on Friday night to Saturday
night. The officials were accommodating, he says.
One of some 200 ballboys and boygirls — “ballpersons is the politically correct term,” he says — Weitzman
worked at the net during matches Sunday to Friday, retrieving errant shots and offering water to the
players.
“I loved just being there,” says Weitzman, a member of the HAFTR tennis team. He was assigned to the
matches of some top-ranked players, including Russia’s Marat Safin, who upset Pete Sampras in the men’s
final.
Weitzman says after the quarterfinals, “I told my friends it would be a Sampras-Safin match” for the
championship.
Some fans in the stands did notice Weitzman, he says.
One fan asked Weitzman about the yarmulke . “She thought it was part of the uniform.”
“I explained it is a religious thing,” he
Net gain for yarmulke wearer
By Steve Lipman
Steve Lipman is a staff writer with the
New York Jewish Week. Comment on this article by clicking here.
