She wore a tennis ball in the eye from an Australian Open hero. Now she’s ready to spin Australia to victory against England.
Alana King may be one of Australia’s weapons in their bid to retain the Ashes when the multi-format series begins in Sydney on Sunday, but the leg-spinner’s initial love was tennis.
For two years King scurried after tennis balls for the likes of Roger Federer, Lleyton Hewitt and Marco Baghdatis, and was briefly left with blurry vision after wearing one of Baghdatis’ bullet serves.“Being a ballkid was a dream for me as a kid. I always dreamed of myself playing in a grand slam. To see the tennis players a few metres in front of you, and see the way they play, it was the best two weeks of school holidays I ever had,” King said.
King also played softball, baseball and cricket, and, aged 16, was awarded her first rookie contract in 2012 with Victoria in the Women’s National Cricket League. She continued to juggle tennis under her long-time junior and senior coach Ben Salmon until her late teens when her cricket skills really began to flourish.She remains in contact with Salmon, “who is very proud of where I have come to in my career”.
King also let rip a series of sizzling deliveries in The Hundred in England, having in 2022 claimed the competition’s first hat-trick. Warne was the reason why King, whose parents hail from Chennai, took up leg spin. She has continued to live by his mantra - spin it hard and have fun.
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