Fonseca and Korneeva Top ITF Junior Year-End Rankings, Tien Among Players Not Meeting Criteria for Final Rankings; Junior Orange Bowl Qualifying Begins Tuesday; Higueras Honored by ATP

With the ITF Junior Circuit now finished for 2023, the final combined ranking were released today, with US Open junior champion Joao Fonseca of Brazil topping the boys rankings and Australian Open and Roland Garros champion Alina Korneeva of Russia ending the year as the No. 1 girl. Although the ITF has yet to publish a release congratulating them, the 17-year-old Fonseca and the 16-year-old Korneeva, will be awarded the title of 2023 ITF World Junior Champions.

With enhancements to the ITF Junior Exempt girls program for this year, and the introduction of the ATP's Accelerator Program for Challenger wild cards, (the full explanation can be found in Appendix P of the ITF Junior Rules and Regulations, pages 99 and 100), the 2023 junior year-end ranking has more importance than ever, so I did a deep dive into the rankings and found a number of players who did not meet the criteria for inclusion in the ITF year-end rankings, which reads as follows:

Those requirements saw No. 4 Learner Tien, a two-time junior slam finalist, and Alexander Blockx of Belgium, the reigning Australian Open boys champion, eliminated from the year-end rankings. Tien met the junior slam/J500 criteria, but did not play six ITF Junior tournaments in 2023. Blockx played just two junior slams, concentrating on pro tournaments after Roland Garros. 

Both will qualify for the ATP's new Accelerator Program due to their results at junior slams, with Blockx, as a champion, getting up to eight Challenger main draw wild cards, as the top 10 year-end players do, while Tien, as a finalist, gets up to eight qualifying wild cards, as the 11-20 year-end juniors do. Had Tien played Eddie Herr and Orange Bowl these past two weeks, he would have had the requisite six tournaments; even if had he lost first round in both, he would have qualified for the main draw wild cards, as he finished at No. 4 this week's combined rankings.

Even without Tien, the United States has two players who qualify for the eight ATP Challenger main draw wild cards: Harvard freshman Cooper Williams, who played seven ITF junior tournaments, four of them the junior slams, and Darwin Blanch, who played the minimum of three junior slams.

If I am counting correctly, both Alex Frusina and Kaylan Bigun will be in the 11-20 year-end ranking group, meaning they, like Tien, will have an opportunity for eight ATP Challenger qualifying wild cards. 

Orange Bowl champion Danil Panarin improved his ranking to 23, up 37 spots, and he will be eligible for the 20-30 tier of wild cards, which are up to eight singles main draw spots at ITF $25K and/or $15K tournaments.

Nikolai Budkov Kjaer of Norway, who ended the year at No. 14, played 40 events, but did not play enough junior slams for the year-end ranking and will not get the Challenger qualifying wild cards. [Note: Budkov Kjaer, missing yesterday, is appearing in the year-end rankings today, although he did not compete in three junior slams]. [SEE COMMENT FROM ME BELOW FOR CLARIFICATION OF THIS ISSUE] No. 28 Rafael Jodar of Spain, who recently signed with Virginia for next fall, played just two junior slams/J500s, so he does not meet the criteria for wild cards in the 20-30 ranking range.

For the girls, No. 13 in the final combined rankings, Anastasiia Gureva of Russia, fell one junior slam short [GUREVA IS NOW INCLUDED IN THE YEAR-END RANKINGS], and No. 14 Iva Jovic, who was out with an injury from April through August, played just the US Open juniors and Orange Bowl this year. The 11-20 category doesn't provide much in the way of wild cards for girls, granting just one in $25Ks and four in $15Ks.

The ITF Junior Circuit rankings page is here, with the dropdown menu providing an option to go to the year-end rather than December 11 combined rankings.

The Junior Orange Bowl 12s and 14s qualifying begins Tuesday at Key Biscayne's Crandon Park for the 12s, and in Coral Gables, for the 14s, with the boys at the Biltmore and the girls on the Har-Tru at Salvadore Park. 

With smaller qualifying draws of 64 players, there are just two rounds of qualifying, one Tuesday and one Wednesday, with the 16 qualifiers going into the 128-player main draws.

Draws with times can be found here.  The fact sheet for the Junior Orange Bowl is here.

The ATP announced today that Jose Higueras has been named recipient of the Tim Gullikson Career Coach award, which is given to a coach "who has inspired generations of young players and fellow coaches to grow the sport of tennis." Higueras, who was a part of the USTA's Player Development program for many years, still works with young players on occasion, particularly ahead of the big junior events in the spring, including the Easter Bowl, near his home in Palm Springs. For more on the Higueras impact, and what's he's focusing on after leaving USTA PD, see this article from Steve Tignor at tennis.com.