Ebony Racquet Club members enjoy history, milestones

ALEX BASS | THE TRIANGLE TRIBUNE

McKinley Battle, a Rocky Mount High graduate, won the 2023 North Carolina 3A girls' tennis singles title. She'll play at Winston-Salem State next season.

RALEIGH – McKinley Battle has the drive. 

Thus, she makes the drive from Rocky Mount to Raleigh to train with the Ebony Racquet Club. Long before Battle, a recent Rocky Mount High graduate, won the 2023 N.C. 3A women’s tennis state championship, she was “grandfathered” into the sport. 

“The grandfather that taught me taught my other grandfather also,” Battle said.

Battle will continue her academic and athletic pursuits at Winston-Salem State. She scheduled an earlier drive to WSSU for the July 11-13 U.S. Tennis Association's North Carolina state championships, which will conclude on the same day as Wimbledon. The club’s winning formula per Dempsey Farmer, one of the club’s coaches, is simple.

“We’re going to out-condition our opponents,” Farmer said. “We’ve got to be ready.”

Battle spent Monday’s afternoon practice burning up the Biltmore Hills tennis courts with forehand and backhand heat befitting the sizzling weather. Farmer adjusted training with water breaks every 15 minutes. Players understand this strategy is a latter part of that winning formula.

“I mostly drink water about a day or two before I start having to come out here and play,” said Ari George, a rising fifth grader at Lockhart Elementary in Knightdale. “Sometimes, like 30 minutes before, I’ll get in some good hitting. Then, I’ll do some real conditioning, like running and jumping jacks.”

George is steeped in tennis history and tradition through time. When asked about on-court attributes of those she seeks to emulate, acknowledged Coco Gauff, the Williams sisters and Billie Jean King – the latter after whom the USTA National Tennis Center is named.

“Even if they’re losing, they keep their heads up. They have very nice mental states,” she said.

While a single match spanning three days and more than 11 hours is not ideal, Battle rallied from dropping the first set to win her high school state title. She sees a prevailing lesson from summer training that transcends time and space. 

“The main thing is just making sure that your cardio and all of your wind is kept through the rest of the off-season,” she said. “Once you get back in the summertime, it’s not such a surprise.”

Battle, who missed her senior season while recovering from a torn right anterior cruciate ligament, will begin college when fellow club competitor Zoe George enters ninth grade at Southeast Raleigh High. The consistent passion and resolve of champions, near and far, has set a standard to be emulated.

“Seeing Coco Gauff and Serena Williams gives me hope that I can get better,” Zoe George said. “You can watch anything, but you can’t do everything.”

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