U.S. Open National Playoffs Championships Taking Place August 19-22
See Full StoryIn the summer of 2014, Sara Choy helped out at the Bank of the West Classic as a hitting partner for the WTA pros.
"I was able to see where my hitting was at," said Choy, who turns 16 this weekend.
Far from an intimidating figure at 4 feet, 11½ inches tall, Choy proved she can handle her own at the other side of the net.
Two years later, the Palo Alto resident has her sights set on qualifying for the U.S. Open.
Step 1 was achieved two weekends ago by winning a tournament in Salinas, one of 15 U.S. Open sectional qualifiers across the country. That
secured her a spot in the U.S. Open National Playoffs Championships taking place Aug. 19-22 in New Haven, Conn., at Yale University during the
Connecticut Open.
"I actually haven't quite wrapped my head around it because I'm still very surprised," said Choy, who can earn a wild card into the U.S. Open
qualifying draw by claiming the women's singles title. "Going into this professional qualifying tournament, I had really no expectations and I
didn't even look this far. But now that I'm here, I think it's a great opportunity for me. It's an eye-opening experience."
It could also prove to be a moot point.
On Aug. 7, she will travel to San Diego for the USTA Girls 18s National Championships, where the singles champion will receive a wild card into
the main draw at the U.S. Open.
That's the path Atherton's CiCi Bellis took two years ago en route to becoming the youngest American to win a match at the U.S. Open since 1986.
"She's definitely the gold standard in the area," said Byron "Flash" Nepomuceno, who is going on four years as Choy's private coach.
"She focused on her own game, just went out there and really took care of business," Choy said. "And she didn't really care what other people
thought, which is really inspiring for me as I'm going into this next tournament, because really I'm not expected to win, obviously. There are
many pros in this tournament, so I'm just going to go in there and really focus on my own game and not think about anything else."
Choy, the top-ranked USTA Girls 16s singles player, will be a junior at Sacred Heart Prep in Atherton. She's a two-time Central Coast Section
girls tennis champion and has yet to lose a high school singles match.
She intends to continue playing for the Gators in the fall, but it's not for individual accolades.
"I think that it's really important for me to understand how it feels to be on a team, since tennis is really just an individual sport," Choy
said. "And I thought that playing on my high school team would give me a small taste of what college would be like."
That doesn't mean Stanford, the reigning NCAA women's tennis champion, is a given destination.
"I also want to keep my doors open for anything else," Choy said. "So that if I'm doing well, maybe I can try out the pros. But for now, I'm
really focusing just maybe on college."
Choy picked up a tennis racket for the first time at age 7. It didn't take long for her to make a living on the baseline.
"Once I actually got a hang of it, yeah, I fell in love with it," Choy said. "And it was really important that I had a good start, so my first
coach made tennis seem really fun. And my dad, who introduced me to the sport, made the whole game seem fun, which drew me to the sport."
She spends 90 minutes to two hours on a daily basis practicing at Flash Tennis with Nepomuceno, a perfectionist who imposes a rigid training
regimen.
Tennis today is "definitely fun, but just a different type of fun."
"It's not the type of fun where you go out and just have a good time," Choy said. "My goal is to work harder and improve. And automatically I'm
having a fun time from seeing the improvement and from being in the competition and just working hard and seeing the result."
Because of her diminutive stature, Choy is forced to cover more court than most of her opponents, which requires her to hit a clean ball and
remain aggressive at all times.
"I think a lot of it is footwork, first of all," Choy said. "Because if I'm not into my position, I can't strike the ball where I want to strike
it -- and that's when I get the most power possible. And, second of all, I try to use my whole body weight, because since I'm small I can't use
just my arms. And I have to use everything I've got. And, third of all, I like to use my opponent's pace. A lot of the girls now, they're
hitting pretty hard and I really don't have to generate my own pace. I can just counter-punch them."
It's how she won four USTA national tournaments in a row beginning in November and culminating with the girls 16s singles title at the USTA
National Winter Championships in Scottsdale, Ariz.
"People don't act surprised anymore," Nepomuceno said. "Now they know. She doesn't sneak up on anybody. They just look at her as someone to
contend with. She's no longer the hunter, she's now the hunted."
Next week she will compete at an ITF $50,000 Challenger Tournament in Stockton, another chance to take on the pros as she prepares to make a run
at qualifying for the U.S. Open.
Ideally, her final stop will be Flushing Meadows instead of New Haven. But just like in Salinas, she's going in with no expectations and an open
mind.
"I'm just going to go out there and really actually have fun in this tournament," Choy said. "Really soak up all this greatness, and I'm just
going to try to really enjoy it."