Coral Gables High School senior Mirko Radosevic has fun when he earns community service hours. He serves as a ball boy for the Sony Open Tennis Tournament. He’s volunteered at the tournament since he was a freshman.
“This year I had the opportunity to be the ball boy for the finals,” he said.
He worked the women’s singles final with Maria Sharapova and Serena Williams as well as the men’s doubles finals. Radosevic volunteers at the open because he loves tennis. He is the No. 2 seed on the Gables tennis team and he took first place in men’s doubles at the state tournament. As a team, Gables came in second at state.
Radosevic plays doubles with Alfredo Perez who is the No. 1 seed on the Gables team.
He’s been a lifelong tennis player, picking up his racket at age 4. He loves the competition.
“I want to keep going all the time. I don’t know if it’s from a competitive standpoint or just love of the game. I just love the game,” he said.
He trains at the Biltmore tennis center and plays tournaments around Florida. He ranked 12th in Florida for 16-year olds and at 17 he is ranked 27 in the 18-andunder category. He also travels to tournaments across the country.
“The competition in Florida is really good so there’s no need to travel that much,” he said.
This summer he participated in three tournaments, national sectionals and regionals.
Through his tennis club, Radosevic helps teach junior tennis children how to improve their game.
“We feed them balls, show them how to make points,” he said.
Radosevic hopes to play tennis in college. He is considering a science related major, maybe even in chemistry.
“I hope I can go early and, if not, hopefully commit to a school by mid-December,” he said.
Because of his involvement in tennis, he is not able to be involved in extracurricular activities other than the tennis team. However, although he misses school because of the tennis tournaments and has to work doubly hard to make it up, he would rather go to Gables than be homeschooled.
By Linda Rodriguez Bernfeld
