Reese Brantmeier's journey to the US Open started with a keychain.
When she was 12 years old, Brantmeier attended the US Open with her mom and picked up a small souvenir that became a symbol of something bigger.
"I got a little US Open keychain, and I was like until I get the real one, I am going to take this little one," Brantmeier said.
Now, that moment has come full circle. Brantmeier wrapped up her first US Open practice Friday morning, hitting on the same court where she once watched her tennis idols compete as a kid.
"I got to hit on Arthur Ashe Stadium for my first practice this morning. And like when I came here when I was 12 years old, that was the first match I got to go watch like Novak Djokovic's play on Arthur Ashe Stadium," Brantmeier said.
Brantmeier earned her spot in one of tennis' four major championships by winning the collegiate wildcard playoffs in Orlando. The win came on the heels of an incredible college career at North Carolina, where she became a two-time national champion.
She said she is heading into her first US Open match with little pressure and a lot of excitement.
"You know, obviously I want to do well, but there's really no pressure on me here. So, you know, I could pull number one in the world, and that would be awesome, or I could pull a qualifier. And that would also be awesome in a different way," Brantmeier said.
When asked about her mindset heading into her first match, Brantmeier said the hard work is already done.
"The hard work is all the training leading up to it, so match day hopefully is not the hardest part, and that's when you just get to go out and compete and enjoy it and embrace the atmosphere. Obviously, being an American playing here, you have the home crowd behind you. I just really want to have fun with it," Brantmeier said.
Brantmeier will also be carrying her hometown with her on the court. She led a nonprofit initiative to help restore two community tennis courts in her Wisconsin hometown, wanting to make the sport more accessible to the next generation.
"I wanted to pay it forward and make sure that if someone from there wanted to really go the distance with tennis, like they shouldn't have to pay to start and find that out for themselves," Brantmeier said.
For Brantmeier, representing Wisconsin on one of the sport's biggest stages is something she does not take lightly.
"I hold so much pride in being from a small town in Wisconsin. Like, that's very rare for tennis. Not a lot of players come out of that kind of area. It's just really not that common to see at this stage. So I have a lot of pride in representing Wisconsin," Brantmeier said.
This story was reported onair by a journalist and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.
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