Ball boy to main player: De Jong is living a dream

Bengaluru: Kneeling by the sidelines and shuffling around to feed balls while watching seniors trade blows for his country on a tennis court are fresh memories in Jesper De Jong’s mind. The now 25-year-old was all of 12 when he first served as a ball kid at several of Netherlands’ home Davis Cup ties. And the rush of emotions, camaraderie among team-mates and pride of playing for the Dutch flag that accompanies the country versus country tournament is what excites De Jong. 

“I’ve been a ball boy for four or five years for the Davis Cup matches for my current coach, Thiemo de Bakker, when they played at home against Switzerland, Romania, Croatia and so on,” begins the world No. 88 who is here in the city leading the Netherlands’ challenge in their Qualifiers Round 1 contest against India this weekend.

“Normally you are alone on the tour. So to be with in a team environment and play for your country, there’s no bigger pride than that. It’s not the best preparation for our biggest tournament in Holland (ATP 500 Rotterdam starting Feb 11). But at this stage of my career, even if this was in South America or Africa, I would have played,” says the right-hander, whose pale turquoise-eyes -- staring at the navy blue-coloured courts at the SM Krishna Tennis Stadium -- didn’t flinch while uttering these words. If signalling a warning to the opponents through the eyes was a thing, this was it.  

His team travelling to India are without their top-two players - Tallon Griekspoor and Botic van de Zandschulp. But it isn’t a cause of concern for De Jong as he is well aware of the gruelling demands of being a tennis player. 

“Of course, it would have been better for our team if the two would be here. We would have had a stronger squad. But still, we have younger guys coming up who need their chance as well. Yes, there is always pressure.

“Even getting into the top-100 wasn’t easy. I could have been their sooner had a won 6-7 matches in 2024, but I didn’t.” 

That’s when the fund from ATP, under their Baseline Programme that loans a first-time year-end top-125 entrant with $200,000 for the following season, came in handy for the Haarlem-born pro to break into the top-100, reach his first Tour-level 250 final in Bastad, Sweden and touch a career-high of 71 in 2025.

“It helped enormously. But its not only because of that that I had a good year. It can go either ways. It is extremely tough to stay at the top-100 when every player is good and every match tough. If I have to go back to 120, 125, 150 (rank), I don’t really mind. It’s all part of the process,” he says.

To mark the milestone, De Jong got the words ‘It was all a dream’ tattooed on the outside of his right bicep. It is indeed the best dream he is living at the moment. And playing to win it for the Netherlands is his sole focus here and now, just as his seniors did years ago when he watched as a ball boy.