Feels Like Home Court
"Working the US Open brings me so many memories about my childhood in Queens," says ESPN Deportes and International Production content producer Jennifer Aponte
(Jennifer Aponte/ESPN)
NEW YORK – For Queens native Jennifer Aponte, content producer for ESPN Deportes and International Production, working the US Open means having an opportunity to return home.
In some ways, she feels a little like life is coming full circle.
“I grew up in the Jackson Heights section of Queens, and tennis was one of the first sports my mother got me into,” Aponte said. “I remember my mom taking me to the neighborhood park so I could play, and while I used to come to Corona Park to live the atmosphere of the US Open, it wasn’t until I was a teenager that I had the opportunity to go to my first US Open match.”
At the US Open, Aponte is responsible for gathering and distributing content for ESPN’s Spanish-language coverage in the U.S. and Latin America.
Through her 12-year tenure at ESPN, Aponte has had the opportunity to work major sporting events, yet she still feels “butterflies” every year when the US Open comes around.
“Working the Open brings me so many memories about my childhood in Queens,” Aponte said. “I am always taken by the different smells coming from food trucks, the hustle and bustle on the streets, the Manhattan skyline on the horizon, and how could I not reminisce about the No. 7 train?
“I have so many wonderful memories of riding the No. 7 Train to Shea Stadium [now Citi Field] with my family. There is just something so electric about the New York energy that makes being here so magical for me.”
For more on ESPN’s US Open coverage, visit ESPN Press Room
