2024 Finalists Jones and Rottgering Lead Wimbledon Junior Acceptances, 15 Americans Receive Entry; D-I Women's ITA Kickoff Weekend Draft Set for Wednesday; ITA Division I Regional Awards Announced
The acceptances for the Wimbledon Junior Championships were released today, with 2024 finalists Mees Rottgering of the Netherlands and Emerson Jones of Australia among the entries. Rottgering, who hasn't played a junior event since winning the ITF Junior Masters in China last fall, a surprise entrant and may, of course, withdraw before the June 24th deadline.
Jones, who at age 16, is limited in the number of pro events she can play, has played both Australia and Roland Garros this year, so I expect her to compete in the juniors again; with her WTA ranking of 206, she is also playing women's qualifying this year.
Only two of the ITF junior Top 10s have not entered, both champions at the this year's Australian Open Juniors: No. 3 Henry Bernet of Switzerland, who has been rehabbing an injury, and No. 2 Wakana Sonobe of Japan. Both Roland Garros champions, Germany's Niels Mcdonald and Austria's Lilli Tagger, have entered.
Ten American boys received entry into the main draw: Jagger Leach, Benjamin Willwerth, Jack Kennedy, Keaton Hance, Noah Johnston, Maxwell Exsted, Jack Satterfield, Dominick Mosejczuk, Maximus Dussault and Jack Secord. Ryan Cozad is three spots out of the main draw; Ronit Karki is five spots out. The initial cutoff for main draw was 47, compared to 43 at Roland Garros; the Roland Garros cutoff eventually moved to 48.
The regional entries, who get in as the only entrants in the Top 80 from their regions, are Karim Bennani of Morocco and Yannik Alvarez of Puerto Rico.
The initial qualifying cutoff for the boys was 77, with Gavin Goode and Matisse Farzam both inside that number.
Only five US girls were accepted into the main draw: Kristina Penickova, Julieta Pareja, Annika Penickova, Thea Frodin and Maya Iyengar.
The main draw cutoff for girls was 49, with no regional entries. At Roland Garros the cutoff was 51 and went to 55 by the freeze date.
Aspen Schuman is 5 out of the main draw, with the other American girls in qualifying Leena Friedman, Capucine Jauffret and Ishika Ashar, who at 85, is the last girl to make qualifying. Alyssa James of Jamaica, ranked 113, received entry based on the regional quota, which applies to anyone ranked in the Top 150 if their region is not represented.
The Roehampton ITF J300 acceptances also closed today, but they have not been posted. As it is the only other junior grass tournament before Wimbledon, the fields are generally the same, although occasionally a top player will skip Roehampton and play only Wimbledon.
The final qualifying event for the Wimbledon 14U tournament, now in its fourth year, began today in Raynes Park in London. Draws for the Tennis Europe Category 1 tournament can be found here. I hope to have information on the complete fields, including the American participants, for the Wimbledon 14U event some time next week.
The Kick-off Weekend draft, which begins the process of deciding the participants in next February's ITA National Team Indoor Championships, begins Wednesday at noon with the women.
The top 14 teams in the 2024-25 season's final rankings will host, with the remaining teams, in ranking order, deciding which of the 14 regionals suits them best. No. 15 Oklahoma State, which had been very active in the transfer portal and has signed 2022 Wimbledon girls finalist Luca Udvardy of Hungary for this fall, will select first, followed by UCLA and Vanderbilt.
The men's draft will be Thursday, with that draft board here.
The ITA announced its Division I Regional Awards today, with the National Awards scheduled to be announced Friday.
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