It was still dark when Pierre Ntonga Jr. and his older sisters, Nadine and Marie Claire, emerged from their high-rise apartment building in Harlem and turned down Adam Clayton Powell Jr. Boulevard, headed to the Bronx and another day of tennis.
Pierre, 13, had set the alarm for 3 a.m. both days that weekend, just to make certain he and his sisters were not late. They would scramble onto a No. 2 subway, transfer to a bus and then walk the rest of the way to the gleaming Cary Leeds Center in Crotona Park.
Despite the early hour and the complicated commute, there were no complaints.