12-year-old tennis player hoping to win Southern Ozaki Junior Cup for North Carolina

WILMINGTON, NC (WWAY) — Tennis is a passion for 12-year-old Braelyn Roberson and her twin sister Zannah. They say every day is a chance to get better at it, but both agree tennis was not the sport they thought they would fall in love with.

“Well, we tried a bunch of sports that really didn’t work out for us until there was one last sport that was kind of unique, but also popular, tennis. That’s how we became into it, and we watched a lot of people play,” said Braelyn.

Braylen and Zannah have multiple coaches helping them improve their game as well as help from their parents, Mary Ann and Clint Roberson.

Braylen says her schedule leaves little downtime.

“Well, we’re home schooled so like, we got school from 6 to 8am and then tennis is from usually from like 1 to 3:30pm, then we have some privates after. That’s like an everyday schedule,” Braelyn said.

Although her father Clint isn’t one of their main coaches, he helps make an impact in other ways on the court.

“Well, I mean I’m more of their mental coach. We spend more time out here at the tennis court than we do at home just about. I mean it’s after work, on the weekends, every morning we’re out here playing,” said Clint Roberson.

Braelyn is the #2 ranked junior player in her class in North Carolina and is set to represent her state in the Southern Ozaki Junior Cup in Georgia this September.

It is a goal she set for herself at the beginning of the year, and she knows what she needs to do to win.

“My mental, I think I need to get really good at my mental because I know some of these players that I’m going to play and sometimes they like to get in your head. So, I want to have my mental strong and I also want to be prepared because they’ll hit the balls hard and we’re going to be playing a lot of people, ” Braelyn explained.