Yorktown's Ferrante Advances at BJKNTC Junior Tennis Classic Championships

The USTA National Tennis Center in Flushing plays host to the US Open every summer, but some of the top juniors on the East Coast, including Yorktown’s Caitlyn Ferrante, got the chance to warm up the courts this weekend.

Competing in the first round of the Girls 12-and-under division at the BJKNTC Junior Tennis Classic Championships, Ferrante displayed a strong baseline game in taking the opening set and a steely mental toughness in the latter stages of the match, advancing to the quarterfinals with a 6-0, 7-5 victory over No. 4 seed Celeste Traub of Jericho.

“Her level got a lot better as the match went on,” said Ferrante, 10, who will now play No. 5 seed Nicole Kielan of Valley Stream in her next match. “My backhand was really consistent though and got me through a lot of the points.”

Tennis is serious business for this fifth grader at Crompond Elementary School. She spends four or five days a week training at the Hardscrabble Club in Brewster with her coach, Richard Krizso. The pair spend up to two hours a day working on a number of on-court tactics, including stronger returns of serve and hitting forehands more aggressively, that will help take Ferrante’s game to the next level.

Once the school week ends, Ferrante spends roughly two weekends a month traveling around the region to compete in some of the biggest junior tournaments in the state.

“I’m very competitive,” said Ferrante with a laugh. “Competing and winning matches is the most exciting part of all this for me."

The sport sees to run in the family for Ferrante. She was introduced to the sport at the age of 7 by her brother, who is currently a starting player on the Men’s Varsity tennis team at Fairfield University in Connecticut.

Since then, it’s become a way of life for this 10-year-old. She wears the same Livestrong bracelet and Babolat tennis sneakers as her favorite player, Andy Roddick. She even endured the same injuries as Roddick, recently overcoming an ankle injury that kept her out of action for four months.

“It was tough at first, but I’m probably back to full strength now,” she said.

The finals of the BJKNTC Junior Tennis Classic Championships are scheduled for Monday afternoon. To follow Ferrante’s progress in the event, visit the tournament drawsheet.