New York Tennis Magazine’s Player Spotlight on Sabrina Xiong

Sabrina Xiong is a student of the Sportime John McEnroe Tennis Academy (JMTA) at Randalls Island. Year after year, Sabrina has raised her ranking with consistency, and is currently ranked in the top 50 recruits in the country and the number two ranked recruit in New York State, according to TennisRecruiting.net. Her first year on her high school team, as a freshman, she went an undefeated 7-0 as the lead singles player for Cardozo and went on to win the Girls Singles PSAL Tournament.

In 2010, when John McEnroe teamed up with Sportime to open up JMTA, nearly 200 players tried out for the chance to study under the tutelage of one of the game’s greatest players and biggest personalities. When Sabrina made the first cut and was among the final 25 players invited, she was thrilled. When she made the final six, she had the chance to play in front of Johnny Mac for a spot in the academy. When the field of six was narrowed even further and she got the chance to hit with John, she was accepted on a full scholarship to the program, and the experience has become an inspiration for her moving forward as JMTA at Randalls Island has become her second home. Playing at JMTA has fine-tuned Sabrina’s game and has helped take her game to the next level.

“Tennis provides you with discipline, and the coaches at Randalls make you work hard and you learn to never give up,” said Sabrina.

She appreciates the open lines of communication between the players and coaches and especially Johnny Mac at JMTA. Sabrina admits that being on the court with John is “intense, but great” and that he “makes it seem so easy.” The coaches at JMTA demand a high level of work during practice, but it pays off in competitions. Sabrina admits that the feeling of winning and overcoming your opponent on the court is one of the best feelings in the world.

Aside from being an all-star up-and-coming player, Sabrina is very well respected by everyone who meets her. In 2012, she was recognized by the USTA with the Lawrence A. Miller Girls 16 Sportsmanship Award. Sabrina knows that all of her hard work has paid off and recommends that all young juniors looking to raise their game to the next level need to put in hard work. Sabrina plans to play tennis in college and see where it takes her, but for now, she is focused on helping the Cardozo Girls Tennis Team to another PSAL championship.