USA Teams Go 4-0 on Opening Day of ITF Junior Davis Cup, Bille Jean King Cup and World Junior Tennis North and Central American Qualifying; David Filer Memorial Court Established at Lake Nona; JTCC, Minor Family Among USTA Grassroots Award Winners

The favored United States teams won all four of their matches Wednesday in the opening day of the ITF North and Central America and Caribbean qualifying for the U16 and U14 team events that take place later this summer and fall.

The USTA is hosting the three-day event at the National Campus in Lake Nona, with the top two finishers from the four-team events advancing to the international Junior Davis Cup, Junior Billie Jean King Cup and World Junior Tennis finals.

The United States won their first matches in the World Junior Tennis competition for 14-and-under players without any trouble, going 3-0 and losing only 11 games total. 

United States d. Mexico 3-0 WJT girls:

No. 2 singles: Maggie Sohns d. Monserrat Temprana Falco 6-2, 6-2 

No. 1 singles: Welles Newman d. Paula Velaquez Osornio 6-2, 6-1 

Doubles: Newman and Sohns d. Temprana Falo  and Monserrat Montano 6-0, 6-0

United States d. Canada 3-0 WJT boys:

No. 2 singles: Michael Antonius d. Julian Mahdavi 6-0. 6-1

No. 1 singles: Jordan Lee d. Callum Mackinnon 6-3, 6-1

Doubles: Michael Antonius and Teodor Davidov d. Mackinnon and Luca Vicol 6-0, 6-0

Matches were definitely more competitive for the United States in the Junior Davis Cup and Junior Billie Jean King Cup. Keaton Hance, who was a late substitute for Jack Kennedy, partnered with Carel Ngounoue to win the deciding doubles point against Mexico, after Ngounoue had won at No. 2 singles and Jack Secord had lost at No. 1 singles.

United States d. Mexico 2-1 Junior Davis Cup 

No. 2 singles: Carel Ngounoue d. Luis Andres Flores Avila 6-0, 6-1

No. 1 singles: Mauricio Schtulmann Gasca d. Jack Secord 1-6, 7-6(4), 7-6(5)

Doubles: Ngounoue and Keaton Hance d. Flores Avila and Guillermo Antonio Narcio Vazquez 7-5, 6-4

United States d. Canada 3-0 Junior Billie Jean King Cup

No. 2 singles: Kristina Penickova d. Charlize Celebrini 6-2, 7-5

No. 1 singles: Shannon Lam d. Nadia Lagaev 6-4 ,7-5

Doubles: Penickova and Thea Frodin d. Celebrini and Clemence Mercier 3-6, 6-2, 10-4

The results of the other four matches not featuring teams from the United States can be found here.

Many of the players who are competing in this week's event, and who have been at the USTA National Campus in the past month, will have stopped by a recently dedicated court to pay their respects to the memory of David Filer, a top junior player who died of brain cancer just over a year ago, at the age of 16. A camp was held in Filer's honor and a TEAM USA court was designated to his memory. Below are photographs from that camp and ceremony.

Jacek Dabrowski, Pam Mozdzierz-Filer, David Filer IV, Eric Nunez

The USTA announced its Grassroots Awards today, and while I'm sure all winners are very much deserving of the recognition, I wanted to highlight two I have known personally, the Minor family and Junior Tennis Champions Center.

Family of the Year: The Minor Family - Chicago

 

This award was initiated in 1965 by Martin L. Tressel, president of the USTA in 1965-66, to emphasize the theme that "Tennis is a Family Game."  The award is awarded annually to the family who, in recent years, has done the most to promote amateur tennis, primarily on a volunteer basis. All members of the family should participate in some way, either as players or by offering their services in running programs or tournaments or in junior development activities. 

 

The Minor family from Chicago initially had little knowledge of the world of junior tennis–initially seeing it as a healthy sport with valuable life lessons for their three daughters. Discovering the girls' talent, they embarked on a family journey, traveling in their Chevy Suburban for junior tennis tournaments across the country. The daughters excelled, each earning Division I college tennis scholarships. Kristina became a lawyer; Jasmin, an Emmy-winning reporter; and Brienne, the first Black female to win an NCAA women’s singles individual championship, pursued a career on the pro tour. Inspired by their success, their parents, Kevin and Michelle, became mentors for other parents in Chicago on navigating tournament play. In 2022, Kevin tragically passed away, and at the time of his death, the Minor family rallied to solidify his legacy by creating a scholarship fund in his name. The scholarship fund raised nearly $30,000 within days of Kevin's death. Today, the Kevin Minor Legacy Fund awards $5,000 scholarships to junior female tennis players, supporting their journey from the junior circuit to college tennis.

NJTL of the Year Award – Junior Tennis Champions Center (JTCC) - College Park, Md.

 

The NJTL of the Year Award is given to chapters that positively impact youth through the powerful combination of tennis and education. Founded in 1969 by Arthur Ashe, Charlie Pasarell, and Sheridan Snyder, the NJTL network is a nationwide group of more than 250 nonprofit youth development organizations. Supported by the USTA Foundation through financial grants, scholarship opportunities, curricula, technical assistance and training, the NJTL network provides free or low-cost tennis and education programming to more than 150,000 under-resourced youth nationwide.

 

The mission of the Junior Tennis Champions Center (JTCC) is to transform lives in the communities it serves through sport and education by providing tennis for everybody. For 25 years, JTCC has helped grow the sport of tennis by providing a comprehensive tennis pathway for players of all abilities that emphasizes excellence on the tennis court, in the classroom, and in the community. The pathway starts with ‘Game On!’, which delivers free tennis and education to K-12 youth in Maryland and Washington, D.C., providing students with a unique combination of athletic, academic and social learning. JTCC partners with D.C. Public Schools, Prince George’s County Public Schools, D.C. Parks and Recreation, Maryland National Capital Parks and Planning, and Prince George’s County Police Athletic League to identify schools and recreation centers for programming. The program served more than 800 youth between September 2022 and August 2023.

 

Today's release, with all eight award winners, can be found here.