My US Open Junior Championships Recap; The Athletic Reviews Junior Slam Results in The Next Generation Series; US Books Place in Davis Cup Quarterfinals, Sweeping Slovakia

If you weren't able to follow the daily coverage of last week's US Open Junior Championships, which went in depth on many of the notable matches of the top ITF juniors, my review of the finals and how the finalists got there, is up today at the Tennis Recruiting Network. I always enjoy the luxury of having a few days to think about the event and how the champions progressed, and also have time to do some research regarding the historic firsts that so often are part of the story at every junior slam, with the global reach of the sport continuing to expand.

When I linked to The Athletic's Darwin Blanch-focused article Wednesday, I didn't realize that it was part of their "The Next Generation" series, which features separate articles on men's and women's prospects, as well as a profile of Learner Tien. Today's article is on the likelihood that junior slam champions will go on to win a major as adults, and a look at each of the eight junior slam champions this year.

The United States fell short of qualifying for the Davis Cup Final Eight of Davis Cup last year, losing to Finland and the Netherlands at this same group stage last year. This year, playing without the top five Americans in the ATP rankings, the team won its first two matches and has already clinched a spot in quarterfinals, with one match remaining. After defeating Chile in three third-set tiebreakers earlier this week, Mackenzie McDonald(UCLA) and Brandon Nakashima(Virginia) clinched Friday's tie with Slovakia with straight set victories. 

The final match of the group stage will be with Germany, which has also clinched a quarterfinal appearance in Spain in late November. There will be something on the line however, with the winner earning a higher seed.

USA 3 Slovakia 0

Mackenzie McDonald (USA) d. Lukas Klein (SVK), 6-4, 6-3

Brandon Nakashima (USA) d. Jozef Kovalik (SVK), 6-3, 6-3

Austin Krajicek/Rajeev Ram (USA) d. Klein/Norbert Gombos (SVK), 6-7(4), 7-6(4) [10-1]

From the USTA release:

September 13, 2024 – The U.S. Davis Cup Team advanced to the Final 8 stage of the Davis Cup Finals and will compete for the Davis Cup title in Malaga, Spain, November 19-24, after defeating Slovakia, 3-0, in the second of three Group Stage ties in Zhuhai, China.

The U.S. win means it and Germany will advance to the Final 8 out of Group C. The Americans play their final Group C tie against Germany on Saturday at 2 a.m. ET, with seeding implications for Malaga on the line. Tennis Channel will carry coverage in the U.S., and lineups will be set one hour before match time.

This year will now also see both the U.S. Davis Cup and Billie Jean King Cup teams competing in their respective Finals alongside one another, with both Finals scheduled to be played in Malaga at the same venue in consecutive weeks. The Billie Jean King Cup Finals, for which the U.S. has qualified, will be played November 13-20.

The Davis Cup article on Friday's match with Slovakia, with quotes from Nakashima and McDonald, can be found here.