#Ralph Lauren honors first responders with US Open ball person shirts

Front-line workers will be feeling the love at the US Open this year.

When the ball persons hit the US Open courts on Aug. 31, they’ll be sporting a special tribute to the Big Apple’s medical first responders who fought the COVID-19 pandemic as it ravaged the city in the spring.

Their uniforms will be emblazoned with the last name of a worker from Mount Sinai’s various facilities, which chose 150 employees to spotlight, spanning a range of essential duties from patient transporter to emergency room physician.

“It’s a huge honor,” Rocky Walker, a 55-year-old hospital chaplain whose name will grace a uniform, told The Post. “I used to play football. I was a soldier for 25 years. I am used to seeing my name on a shirt, but this is special.”

The sartorial tribute is the brainchild of Ralph Lauren, which has been the tournament’s official outfitter since 2005.

Originally, the fashion house designed a colorful uniform for this year’s US Open but changed course after taking the temperature of the city. “It didn’t feel like it was the right move or the right spirit, so we decided to hold those until next year,” David Lauren, the son of designer Ralph Lauren and the company’s chief innovation officer told The Post. Instead, they dug into their existing stock and used gray fabric to craft a more somber shirt, which allows the first responders’ surnames to shine.

“This isn’t a fun fashion moment,” said Lauren. “It’s about a story.”

And every one of the honored workers has their own harrowing tale.

‘This isn’t a fun fashion moment. It’s about a story.’

Sandra Lazo, a patient transporter at Mount Sinai West, was nominated by her boss after working seven days a week, even putting in hours in the overwhelmed morgue during the peak of infections.

“You see the doctors and nurses and there is such a big group of people behind them, who I feel don’t always get recognized,” said Lazo, 34. “We have housekeepers, respiratory therapists, security guards and people who work in the kitchen. I was super excited they are putting us out there.”

While she was logging long hours, her parents and two siblings were fighting the virus, and her mother landed in the hospital but has recovered. “It was so frightening. I could only go drop off groceries,” Lazo recalled. “I couldn’t even see them.”

The US Open is also particularly special for Lazo, who had a summer job cleaning the stadium at the TD Waterhouse Cup on Long Island years ago. “It is a week or two before the US Open, so I used to get to meet a lot of famous players before they went to the big tournament.”

Sports doctor Joseph Herrera normally works with Olympic athletes, NBA players and weekend warriors. But when the coro- navirus struck, he transformed his reha- bilitation facilities to medical floors so he could treat critically ill patients.

“Everyone was scared,” Herrera, 47, said. “My team and I were the first ones to see the patients. I was doing chest compres- sions, and adjusting oxygen levels. It was nonstop.”

Herrera is adjusting to the “new normal” but he’s thrilled that sports— especially tennis — are back.

“Some of my fondest childhood memo- ries were watching Jimmy Connors and John McEnroe play. I don’t think anything can be more NYC and more international than the US Open. When you watch sports and see the back of a jersey, it really means something.”

Dr. Erik Blutinger, a 34-year-old ER physician at Mount Sinai’s Queens campus and tennis fanatic, moved to New York last summer hoping to experience the city’s magic, including attending the US Open this year. But months into his first job since finishing his residency, the city shut down, and he was in the thick of the COVID fight. He made candid video diaries that made news around the world. Although he won’t be able to attend the fan-free tournament, his name is forever stitched into its history.

“I became teary when I thought about the event and the person who would be wearing my name on their back,” Blutinger said. “They are connected to us.”

For Dr. Adelle Schaefer, a psychiatry resident at Mount Sinai Beth Israel who volunteered to work as a physician on medical floors as the hospital expanded their bed count during the spring surge, the celebratory uniforms connect fans to the event that’s been stripped of spectators.

“It’s unique because since there are no fans, we are losing a lot of the human aspect of the tournament,” says the 29-year-old Sloane Stephens fan. “I saw one of the ball persons with my name on the back of the jersey, and I thought, ‘People will be there but just in a different way.’ It’s humbling and such a nice gesture.”

‘I became teary when I thought about the event and the person who would be wearing my name on their back.’

The Flatiron District resident says learning that she would be honored brought her back to March and April when her nightly walks home coincided with the 7 p.m. cheers for the front-line workers. “I would walk home every night and hear all of the clapping, and it was super inspiring.”

For Walker, who as a hospital chaplain tended to the emotional needs of others, including patients, family members and staffers who would regularly go from “casual conversation to tears,” there’s only one way to top his excitement about being a part of this year’s event: If he could see his name on a ball person working a match where either Serena or Venus Williams are playing.

“Now you are talking tears,” the Bay Ridge resident said. “Actually, it would be more disbelief than anything. It would be amazing.”

But ultimately, he hopes that next year, the bold uniforms will return along with spectators — and that the country will have beaten the virus.

“That would be the real victory,” said Walker.