Bernard, Mayo Win Spots on USTA National Junior Team; USTA French Open Wild Card Challenge Events Revealed; Ohio State Men Remain No. 1 Despite Last Week's Two Losses

The USTA has established a Team USA national team, which provides coaching and support for American players as they travel to tournaments this summer.  In past years, the teams have been made up of eight players, and confined to those 16 and under, but this year's boys team has been named, with just six players, one of whom does not fit that previous age restriction.

Four players were named to the team based on previously determined ranking criteria: Zane Khan, 17; Martin Damm, 15; Toby Kodat 16, and Dali Blanch, 16.

The other two positions on the team were decided by in a 16-player playoff last week in Lake Nona, with Alexander Bernard, 15, and Aidan Mayo, 15 making the team by finishing first or second in their round robin group and then winning quarterfinal and semifinal matches.  The USTA release, which includes the boys' coaches and accomplishments, can be found here.

The USTA also released the dates and tournaments for its annual French Open Wild Card Challenge, which will award a main draw wild card to the American man and woman who accumulate the most ATP and WTA points in these designated events. Both men and women have ATP and WTA tour events included in the calculations, but the men use their best three results, while the women use their best two. Noah Rubin and Taylor Townsend won the wild cards last year.

Men's events:
Week of April 8: ATP Tour 250s (Houston; Marrakech); ATP Challenger 80s (Barletta, Italy; Murcia, Spain)
Week of April 15: ATP Masters 1000 Monte Carlo; ATP Challenger 125 (Anning, China); USTA Pro Circuit ATP Challenger 100 (Sarasota, Fla.); ATP Challenger 80s (Tunis, Tunisia; San Luis  Potosi, Mexico)
Week of April 22: ATP Tour 500 (Barcelona); ATP Tour 250 (Budapest); USTA Pro Circuit / ATP Challenger 80 (Tallahassee, Fla.); ATP Challenger 80 (Francavilla, Italy)
Week of April 29: ATP Tour 250s (Estoril; Munich); ATP Challenger 110 (Bordeaux, France); USTA Pro Circuit / ATP Challenger 80 (Savannah, Ga.); ATP Challenger 80 (Ostrava, Czech Republic)

Women's events:
Week of April 15: USTA Pro Circuit/ITF World Tennis Tour W80 (Dothan, Ala.)
Week of April 22: WTA International (Istanbul); USTA Pro Circuit/ITF World Tennis Tour W80 (Charlottesville, Va.)
Week of April 29: WTA Internationals (Prague; Rabat); USTA Pro Circuit/ITF World Tennis Tour W100 (Charleston, S.C.); ITF World Tennis Tour W60 (Wiesbaden, Germany)
Week of May 6: WTA Premier Mandatory (Madrid); USTA Pro Circuit/ ITF World Tennis Tour W100 (Bonita Springs, Fla.); ITF World Tennis Tour W100 (Cagnes-sur-Mer, France)

Despite their two losses last week in Texas, Ohio State remains No. 1 in the ITA Division I men's rankings, and Wake Forest, who lost to Florida, remains at No. 2.  Texas A&M, one of the teams to beat the Buckeyes (Texas was the other), got a big boost from that, moving from 19 to 9 in the rankings. After Florida's win over the Demon Deacons, they moved from 8 to 4. North Carolina fell out of the top 10 after their loss to Georgia Tech. Full rankings can be found by clicking on the heading.

ITA Division I Men's Top 10, March 19, 2019: (previous week's rankings in parentheses):
1. Ohio State (1)
2. Wake Forest (2)
3. Texas (4)
4. Florida (8)
5. Virginia (3)
6. Baylor (6)
7. Stanford (5)
8. Mississippi State (10)
9. Texas A&M (19)
10. TCU (12)

The women's new rankings did not provide any change at the top, but two teams did make big jumps. Pepperdine's wins over UCLA and Texas moved it from 20 to 7, and although they are still outside the Top 10, Texas A&M is all the way up to 11 from 29 after a win over Vanderbilt.

ITA Division I Women's Top 10, March 19, 2019:
1. North Carolina (1)
2. Georgia (2)
3. Duke (3)
4. Stanford (5)
5. Vanderbilt (4)
6. South Carolina (7)
7. Pepperdine (20)
8. Oklahoma State (11)
9. UCLA (6)
10. Washington (9)

Individual rankings were also released today, with the same No. 1s in singles--Ohio State's JJ Wolf and Georgia's Katarina Jokic--but new No. 1s in doubles.

Women's Division I Singles Top 10:
1. Katarina Jokic, Georgia (1)
2. Estela Perez-Somarriba, Miami (2)
3. Alexa Graham, North Carolina (6)
4. Kate Fahey, Michigan (4)
5. Makenna Jones, North Carolina (5)
6. Fernanda Contreras, Vanderbilt (3)
7. Ingrid Gamarra Martins, South Carolina (9)
8. Sophie Whittle, Gonzaga (7)
9. Sara Daavettila, North Carolina (14)
10. Eden Richardson, LSU (15)

Men's Division I Singles Top 10:
1. JJ Wolf, Ohio State (1)
2. Nuno Borges, Mississippi State (3)
3. Petros Chrysochos, Wake Forest (2)
4. Thomas Laurent, Oregon (5)
5. Paul Jubb, South Carolina (12)
6. Christian Sigsgaard, Texas (4)
7. Alex Rybakov, TCU (7)
8. Axel Geller, Stanford (8)
9. Yuya Ito, Texas (9)
10. Daniel Cukierman, USC (6)

Women's Division I Doubles Top 5:
1. Mia Horvit and Ingrid Gamarra Martins, South Carolina (7)
2. Lauryn John-Baptiste and Ilze Hattingh, Arizona State (6)
3. Cameron Morra and Makenna Jones, North Carolina (5)
4. Fernanda Navarro and Marie Leduc, Clemson (4)
5. Janet Koch and Nina Khmelnitckaia, Kansas (2)

Men's Division I Doubles Top 5:
1. Sven Lah and Jimmy Bendeck, Baylor (2)
2. Henry Patten and Oli Nolan, UNC Asheville (1)
3. Hunter Tubert and Martin Joyce, Ohio State (24)
4. Niclas Braun and Giovanni Oradini, Mississippi State (3)
5. Jackie Tang and Jack Lin, Columbia (12)