Douglaston Girl to Compete in National Tennis Championships This Summer

A Douglaston fifth grader who recently competed in the Longines Future Tennis Aces – On the Road to the French Open U.S. Qualifying Tournament says she will compete in national championships in three states this summer.

Michelle Sorokko, 11, who attends Little Neck’s P.S. 221, has been playing tennis from an early age. This year, her ranking improved, qualifying her for more tournaments.

She has already played in nationals in Florida and Arizona and, this summer, she will compete in Georgia, Pennsylvania and Maryland.

On April 14, she made it to the semifinals in the Longines Future Tennis Aces at Flushing Meadows Corona Park’s Billie Jean King National Tennis Center.

“I practice there every day,” she said of the Queens tennis center. “I’ll try to play professionally. Right now, I hope to be able to get to play college tennis. Then, I’ll go from there.”

Sorokko has been practicing with the same coach ever since she first picked up a racquet – her sister, Kat Sorokko, who played on Brown University’s team.

“My sister graduated last year from college, so she’s been able to train me better this year,” Michelle Sorokko said.

Helena Sorokko, Michelle’s mother, said she was proud of her daughter’s performance at the Billie Jean King center.

“Altogether, there were 16 girls who came from New England and the Midwest,” she said. “But Michelle was the youngest one of all. Billie Jean King was present and did some drills with them.”

The Longines’ event was a one-day qualifying tournament in which the winner earned a trip to Paris to compete against qualifiers from 16 other nations. The winner of that competition will receive financing for tennis equipment up to age 16 as well as a chance to play with Steffi Graf on the clay courts of Roland Garros.

Sorokko was the only participant from northeast Queens and is a top-ranked junior player in the United States Tennis Association’s eastern division.