Before she had even left the grounds of the Billie Jean King National Tennis Center on Friday afternoon, Allie Kiick was planning a shoe-shopping expedition.
She was not thinking about a new pair of tennis sneakers to celebrate qualifying for the main draw of the United States Open for the first time. Instead, Kiick, 22, was hoping for a trip into Manhattan to find a coveted pair of bright red, pointy-toe, pyramid-studded Valentino stilettos that retail for close to $1,000.
The purchase might be extravagant for a young woman who said she had only $730 in her business bank account and $14 in her personal one.