Happy New Year! IMG Academy 16s Division Videos; USA Reaches Quarterfinals of United Cup

As I close out another year at Zootennis.com, it's time to post for posterity the 2024 Honor Roll, with a list of all Americans, under the age of 19, who won USTA Level 1 titles and ITF junior titles at the J300 level or above. Also included are major international titles for Americans in the 12s and 14s divisions and ITF men's and women's World Tennis Tour events, as well as ATP Challenger titles. This was also a banner year for American juniors at ITF team competitions, with the boys winning the ITF World Junior Tennis title for 14-and-under players and both the boys and the girls taking the Junior Davis Cup and Junior Billie Jean King Cup titles for 16-and-under players. The sidebar features all Honor Rolls from 2005 onward, if nostalgia should surface this time of year.

The full 2024 list is here. Let me know if I've missed anyone who fits into the categories I mentioned above. 

The 16s IMG Academy International Championships videos are below, with one for the boys final, and two for the girls, as it was not possible to be in a position from above with the girls playing on Court 5. More videos from IMG and the 16s Orange Bowl finals will be coming from at my tenniskalamazoo YouTube channel in the next few weeks.

The top-seeded United States team advanced to the quarterfinals of the United Cup in Australia, with Coco Gauff and Taylor Fritz winning their singles matches over Croatia's Donna Vekic and Borna Coric respectively, then teaming up for a dead rubber mixed doubles victory over Ivan Dodig and Petra Marcinko to win the group. They will play China in the quarterfinals Wednesday. For more on their win over Croatia, see this article from the tournament website.

2024 Honor Roll

2024 HONOR ROLL

January

Jiarui Zhang, USTA Winter Nationals 12s

Tristan Ascenzo and Sebastian Zavala, USTA Winter Nationals 12s (dbls)

Daniela Del Mastro, USTA Winter Nationals 12s

Olivia De Los Reyes and Nikol Davletshina, USTA Winter Nationals 12s (dbls)

Andrew Johnson, USTA Winter Nationals 14s

Tyler Lee and Andrew Johnson, USTA Winter Nationals 14s (dbls)

Anjani Vickneswaran, USTA Winter Nationals 14s

Sammie Mercer and Bailey Scott, USTA Winter Nationals 14s (dbls)

Nischal Spurling, USTA Winter Nationals 16s

Gavin Goode and Yannik Alvarez, USTA Winter Nationals 16s (dbls)

Bella Payne, USTA Winter Nationals 16s

Anna Bennett and Emerey Gross, USTA Winter Nationals 16s (dbls)

Saahith Jayaraman, USTA Winter Nationals 18s

Jordan Chang and Ronit Karki, USTA Winter Nationals 18s (dbls)

Alexis Nguyen, USTA Winter Nationals 18s

Emily Deming and Kenzie Nguyen, USTA Winter Nationals 18s (dbls)

Liv Hovde, W35 Loughborough GBR (dbls)

Clervie Ngounoue, W35 Naples FL

Max Exsted and Cooper Woestendick, ITF J300 Traralgon (dbls)

Tyra Grant and Iva Jovic, Australian Open Junior Championships (dbls)

Max Exsted and Cooper Woestendick, Australian Open Junior Championships (dbls)

Shannon Lam, ITF J300 Costa Rica

Shannon Lam and Thea Frodin, ITF J300 Costa Rica (dbls)

Ian Mayew, ITF J300 Costa Rica

Noah Johnston and Benjamin Willwerth, ITF J300 Costa Rica (dbls)

Izyan Ahmad and Teodor Davidov, Les Petits As (dbls)

Michael Antonius, Les Petits As

February

Noah Johnston, ITF J300 Colombia (dbls)

Ian Mayew, ITF J300 Colombia

March

Kaitlyn Rolls, ITF J300 Brazil (dbls)

Ashton Bowers, W15 Canada (dbls)

Tyra Grant, W15 Turkey, singles and doubles

Kaitlyn Rolls, ITF J500 Brazil

Ian Mayew and Kase Schinnerer, ITF J300 Indian Wells (dbls)

Bianca Molnar and Alyssa Ahn, ITF J300 Indian Wells (dbls)

Rudy Quan, ITF J300 Indian Wells

Valerie Glozman, ITF J300 Indian Wells

Cooper Woestendick and Max Exsted, ITF J300 San Diego (dbls)

Alanis Hamilton and Kayla Chung, ITF J300 San Diego (dbls)

Jack Kennedy, ITF J300 San Diego

Iva Jovic, ITF J300 San Diego

Trevor Svajda, USTA Pro Circuit $25K Calabasas

Jiarui Zhang, USTA Easter Bowl 12s

James Borchard and Taiki Bortolin, USTA Easter Bowl 12s (dbls)

Nikol Davletshina, USTA Easter Bowl 12s

Nikol Davletshina and Isha Manchala, USTA Easter Bowl 12s (dbls)

Andrew Johnson, USTA Easter Bowl 14s

Andrew Johnson and Izyan Ahmad, USTA Easter Bowl 14s (dbls)

Raya Kotseva, USTA Easter Bowl 14s

Raya Kotseva and Jordyn Hazelitt, USTA Easter Bowl 14s (dbls)

Gavin Goode, USTA Easter Bowl 16s

Tyler Lee and Brayden Tallakson, USTA Easter Bowl 16s (dbls)

Bella Payne, USTA Easter Bowl 16s

Bella Payne and Ava Rodriguez, USTA Easter Bowl 16s (dbls)

William Manning, USTA Easter Bowl 18s

Ronit Karki and Jack Satterfield, USTA Easter Bowl 18s (dbls)

Tianmei Wang, USTA Easter Bowl 18s

Olivia Center and Sophia Webster, USTA Easter Bowl 18s (dbls)

April

Liv Hovde, USTA Pro Circuit W35, Boca Raton

Noah Johnston, ITF J300 France (dbls)

Tyra Grant, ITF J300 France

Cooper Woestendick and Alexander Razeghi, USTA Pro Circuit $15K, Vero Beach (dbls)

Katie Rolls, ITF J500 Germany (dbls)

Jagger Leach, ITF J300 Malaysia

Kristina Penickova, ITF J300 Malaysia

Kristina and Annika Penickova, ITF J300 Malaysia (dbls)

May

Akasha Urhobo, USTA Pro Circuit W75, Zephyrhills FL

Kaylan Bigun, ITF J500 Milan

Maxwell Exsted and Cooper Woestendick, ITF J500 Milan (dbls)

Kaitlyn Rolls, ITF J300 Belgium (dbls)

June

Learner Tien, USTA Pro Circuit M15, San Diego, singles and doubles

Kaylan Bigun, Roland Garros Junior Championships

Learner Tien, USTA Pro Circuit M15, San Diego

Cassius Chinlund, ITF M15, Dominican Republic (dbls)

Learner Tien, USTA Pro Circuit M15, Rancho Santa Fe

Julieta Pareja, USTA Pro Circuit W15, Rancho Santa Fe

July

Kaylan Bigun and Jagger Leach, ITF J300 Roehampton (dbls)

Tyra Grant and Iva Jovic, ITF J300 Roehampton (dbls)

Learner Tien, ATP Challenger 75, Bloomfield Hills MI

Alanis Hamilton USTA Pro Circuit W15, Lakewood

Learner Tien, USTA Pro Circuit M15, Lakewood

Tyra Grant and Iva Jovic, Wimbledon Junior Championships (dbls)

Alexander Razeghi, Wimbledon Junior Championships (dbls)

Dylan Long, USTA National Clay Courts 18s

Max Pettingell and Jack Satterfield, USTA National Clay Courts 18s (dbls)

Gus Grumet, USTA National Clay Courts 16s

Arjun Prabhakar and Gabriel Jessup, USTA National Clay Courts 16s (dbls)

Mason Vaughan, USTA National Clay Courts 14s

Mason Vaughn and Dylan Meineke, USTA National Clay Courts 14s (dbls)

Daniel Gardality, USTA National Clay Courts 12s

Daniel Gardality and David Bender, USTA National Clay Courts 12s (dbls)

Claire Hill, USTA National Clay Courts 18s

Kady Tannenbaum and Linda Ziets-Segura, USTA National Clay Courts 18s (dbls)

Olivia Traynor, USTA National Clay Courts 16s

Addy Rogin and Reagan Levine, USTA National Clay Courts 16s (dbls)

Allison Wang, USTA National Clay Courts 14s

Reiley Rhodes and Emery Martin, USTA National Clay Courts 14s (dbls)

Nadia Poznick, USTA National Clay Courts 12s

Gwyneth Britton and Tara Guhan, USTA National Clay Courts 12s (dbls)

Clervie Ngounoue, USTA Pro Circuit W50, Dallas

August

Jordan Lee, Michael Antonius and Teodor Davidov, ITF WJT 14U Team Championships

Iva Jovic, USTA National 18s

Iva Jovic and Tyra Grant, USTA National 18s (dbls)

Matthew Forbes, USTA National 18s

Alexander Razeghi and Nikita Filin, USTA National 18s (dbls)

Ishika Ashar, USTA National 16s

Lyla Middleton and Jordyn Hazelitt, USTA 16s (dbls)

Gus Grumet, USTA National 16s

Yannik Alvarez and Ryan Cozad, USTA National 16s (dbls)

Armira Kockinis, USTA National 14s

Elle Groslimond and Vanessa Kruse, USTA National 14s (dbls)

Daniil Berezin, USTA National 14s

Gadin Arun and Akshay Mirmira, USTA National 14s (dbls)

Nadia Poznick, USTA National 12s

Nadia Poznik and Ava Chua, USTA National 12s (dbls)

Ishaan Marla, USTA National 12s

James Borchard and Nathan Lee, USTA National 12s (dbls)

Maya Iyengar, ITF J300 College Park (dbls)

Alexander Razeghi, ITF J300 College Park (dbls)

September

Learner Tien, ATP Challenger 75 Las Vegas

Iva Jovic, USTA Pro Circuit W35 Berkeley

October

Iva Jovic, USTA Pro Circuit W75 Rancho Santa Fe

James Weber and Jon Gamble, ITF J300 Pan Am (dbls)

Alanis Hamilton and Kayla Chung, ITF J300 Pan Am (dbls)

Maya Iyengar, ITF J300 Pan Am

Jack Kennedy, ITF J300 Pan Am

Learner Tien, ATP Challenger 75 Fairfield

November

Clervie Ngounoue, USTA Pro Circuit W100 Tyler (dbls)

Tyra Grant, W75 France (dbls)

Jack Kennedy, Keaton Hance and Jack Secord, ITF Junior Davis Cup Championships

Tyra Grant, Julieta Pareja and Kristina Penickova, ITF Junior Billie Jean King Cup Championships

Dominick Mosejczuk and Maximus Dussault, ITF J300 Mexico (dbls)

Maya Iyengar and Annika Penickova, ITF J300 Mexico (dbls)

Clervie Ngounoue, ITF W35 Dominican Republic

Tyra Grant, W50 Italy

December

Mark Krupkin, USTA National Indoors 18s

Jonah Hill and Malhar Patel, USTA National Indoors 18s (dbls)

Karlin Schock, USTA National Indoors 18s

Kaya Moe and Carrie-Ann Hoo, USTA National Indoors 18s (dbls)

Safir Azam, USTA National Indoors 16s

Miguel Rooney and Harrison Kemp, USTA National Indoors 16s (dbls)

Anna Bugaienko, USTA National Indoors 16s

Olivia Dartawan and Autumn Xu, USTA National Indoors 16s (dbls)

Daniel Malacek, USTA National Indoors 14s

Antanas Daugis and Daniel Malacek, USTA National Indoors 14s (dbls)

Emery Combs, USTA National Indoors 14s

Teaghan Jou An Keys and Sammie Mercer, USTA National Indoors 14s (dbls)

Davidson Jackson, USTA National Indoors 12s

Brishan Paul and Pranav Vignesh, USTA National Indoors 12s (dbls)

Tara Guhan, USTA National Indoors 12s

Capri Butera and Mary Podkhyneychenko, USTA National Indoors 12s (dbls)

Jordan Lee, IMG Academy International 16s

Maddox Bose and Noah Bayon, IMG Academy International 16s (dbls)

Ciara Harding and Lyla Messler, IMG Academy International 16s (dbls)

Nikol Davletshina, IMG Academy International 12s

Ford McCollum and Zavier Augustin, Orange Bowl 16s (dbls)

Jordan Lee, Orange Bowl 16s

Nicole Okhtenberg, Orange Bowl 16s (dbls)

Nikol Davletshina, Junior Orange Bowl 12s

Victor Pignaton and Gadin Arun, Junior Orange Bowl 14s (dbls)

Olivia De Los Reyes and Emery Combs, Junior Orange Bowl 14s (dbls)

Top Two Seeds in Girls 18s Ousted in Third Round of USTA Winter National Championships; Hovde's NIL Deal with Duke

The third round of the girls 18s USTA Winter National Championships in Orlando produced two major upsets today, with unseeded Kira Farrakhova defeating No. 1 seed Addison Lanton 4-6, 6-3, 6-4 and Sobee Oak, a No. 17 seed, beating No. 2 seed Joanna Kennedy 7-6(4), 6-1.

The girls 18s has just seven seeded players remaining for Tuesday's round of 16, and only one single digit seed in No. 3 Carrie-Anne Hoo.

In contrast, the girls 16s draw has 13 seeded players in the round of 16 including the top 4: Carlota Moreno[1], Paige Wygodzki[3], Kohana Darroch[4] and Aya Manning[2].

Nine seeds remain in the boys 18s round of 16, but none in the bottom quarter. Gray Kelley eliminated No. 2 seed Prathinav Chunduru[2] 6-2, 3-0 ret. in the second round and also won today.  2024 Kalamazoo 16s champion Gus Grumet, seeded No. 5, lost to Jaden Brady, a No. 17 seed 4-6, 7-6(6), 7-5, but Kalamazoo 16s finalist Arin Pallegar, a No. 17 seed, has made his way into the round of 16.

In the boys 16s, top seed Safir Azam has been cruising, losing only six games in his first three matches. No. 2 seed Theo Hegarty lost 6-4, 6-1 in the second round to Shaan Majeed, who then lost to No. 17 seed Teodor Davidov today 6-2, 6-7(6), 6-1.

Eleven seeds remain in the boys 16s.

I had missed this notice in the overview tab for the Orlando tournament providing the information on what wild cards are being offered for the top finishers in this year's Level 1 USTA National Championship in Orlando.

• G18 Singles Champion - Main Draw Singles 2025 J300 Indian Wells
• G18 Singles Finalist - Main Draw Singles 2025 ITF J100
• G18 Singles 3rd place - Main Draw Singles 2025 ITF J60
• G18 Singles 4th place - Qualifying Singles 2025 ITF J60
• G18 Singles 5th place - Main Draw Singles 2025 ITF J30
• G16 Singles Champion - Main Draw Singles 2025 J60 Las Vegas
• B18 Singles Champion - Main Draw Singles 2025 J300 Indian Wells
• B18 Singles Finalist - Qualifying Sinlges 2025 J300 Indian Wells
• B18 Singles 3rd Place - Main Draw Singles 2025 J60 Las Vegas
• B18 Singles 4th Place - Qualifying Singles 2025 J60 Las Vegas
• B18 Sing;es 5th Place - Qualifying Singles 2025 J30 Eau Claire
• B16 Singles Champion - Qualifying Singles 2025 J300 Indian Wells
• B16 Singles Finalist - Main Draw Singles 2025 J60 Las Vegas

I haven't had a chance to check this out yet, but Playsight streams should be available here.

At the 12s and 14s Winter Nationals in San Antonio, the seeds have fared better, although girls 14s No. 2 seed Sofia Kedrin lost to unseeded Sophia Dumitrascu 7-6(5), 6-4 in the second round. Dumitrascu also got a win today. Eleven girls 14s seed remain in contention for the title, including Michelle Lee[1],Adelyn Gross[3] and Anna Scott Laney[4].

The boys have 14 seeds through to the fourth round including Eli Kaminski[1], Dylan Meineke[4], Aayush Vartak[3] and Rafael Pawar[2].

The girls 12s round of 16 will feature nothing but seeds, with only two of the Top 16 seeds failing to advance. The top four seeds are all still in contention:  Violetta Mamina[1], Gabrielle Villegas[3], Lucy Dupere[4] and Christina Li[2].

The boys 12s feature 13 seeds, including No. 1 seed David Bender and No. 2 seed Stanley Oriala Jr. 

Tennis Recruiting Network published an article today about the NIL deal Liv Hovde recently signed with the Duke collective, with quotes from her legal representative Darren Heitner. While no dollar amounts are disclosed for Hovde, there is this:

Opendorse, an NIL marketplace, projects women’s and men’s tennis players earn about $5,000 annually through NIL.

I don't know where this number is coming from, perhaps it's an average, which doesn't mean much in this context. It could very well be the case in the future that NIL earnings for sought-after tennis student-athletes will be this low or lower, but I am certain that the top juniors, most of whom do not have a junior slam title on their resume, are being offered much more than that by many schools, including Duke. The consensus is that this is not sustainable for a non-revenue sport like tennis once the House settlement is implemented next year, but right now the very top juniors have a window to sign deals that will fund their first few seasons as pros. How many schools will go all in on tennis in the future remains to be seen, but at the moment there are plenty of bidders for the top tennis talent.

ITF J500 Orange Bowl Videos; Top Seed USA Gets Past Canada in First United Cup Match

The videos of the four finalists at the ITF J500 Orange Bowl are below. I'll continue to process the videos of the younger age divisions in Bradenton and Plantation in the next several weeks, but this completes the videos from the two ITF junior events in Florida this month. The Bradenton ITF J300 videos can be viewed at this post.

The top-seeded team from the United States won its first round match Sunday at the United Cup in Perth Australia, with Coco Gauff and Taylor Fritz winning the deciding mixed doubles match over Canada's Felix Auger-Aliassime and Leylah Fernandez.  Gauff had defeated Fernandez 6-3, 6-2 in the women's singles, but Taylor Fritz, who served for the match at 6-4, 5-4, lost to Auger-Aliassime 4-6, 7-5, 6-3 to require a late-night mixed doubles decider.  Gauff and Fritz won it 7-6(2), 7-5 to earn the win. They will play Croatia on Tuesday.  For more on today's match, see this article from the United Cup website.

Few Seeds Fall in Opening Day of USTA Winter Nationals; Basavareddy Qualifies for ATP Brisbane; Latest Tennis Mailbags

The first day of the USTA Winter National Championships is in the books, with all of the Top 5 singles seeds in all eight divisions advancing to the second round. The highest seed to lose in any division was the No. 6 seed, three of whom fell in the G14s, G16s and B18s.  Remarkably, none of the top 16 seeds lost in the B12s, G12s, or B14s.

A brief update is below; draws and results can be found for the 12s and 14s in San Antonio here; the draws and results for 16s and 18s in Orlando are here.

G14s:
1. Michelle Lee
2. Sofia Kedrin
3. Adelyn Gross
4. Anna Scott Laney
5. Olivia Lin
6. Isha Manchala (out rd 1)
7. Evelynn Kwak
8. Masha Semenova
9. Natalie Frisbie
10. London Evans
11. Blake Chang
12. Nadia Poznick
13. Hannah Halabi
14. Daniella Sales
15. Ania Zabost
16. Madeline Cleary

B16s:

1. Safir Azam

2. Theo Hegarty

3. Alexander Suhanitski

4. Artem Dmytrenko

5. Lucas Smith

6. Lixing Jiang

7. Mangus Weng

8. William McEwan

9. Maddox Bose

10. Anish Poojari

11. Gurjot Singh

12. Ilias Bouzoubaa

13. Joseph Nau

14. Rafael Lopez

15. Nicolas Pedraza (out rd 1)

16. Tristan Stratton (out rd 1)

G16s:

1. Carlota Moreno

2. Aya Manning

3. Paige Wygodski

4. Kohana Darroch

5. Anna Bugaienko

6. Whitney Burke (out rd 1)

7. Kayden Johnson

8. Sasha Miroshnichenko

9. Jensen Diianni

10. Anjani Vickneswaran

11. Alanna Ingalsbe (out rd 1)

12. Addison Lindsay

13. Maria Navarro

14. Baotong Xu

15. Lauren Nolan

16. Aarini Bhattacharya

B18s:

1. Nav Dayal

2. Prathinav Chunduru

3. Braeden Gelletich

4. Arnav Bhandari

5. Gus Grumet

6. Nolan Balthazor (out rd 1)

7. Brody Nejedly Krall

8. Blake Anderson

9. Winston Lee

10. Brennon Chow

11. Benjamin Saltman

12. Tej Bhagra (out rd 1)

13. Mark Krupkin

14. Nathan Germino (out rd 1)

15. Bryan Assi

16. Cooper Han (out rd 1)

G18s:

1. Addison Lanton

2. JoAnna Kennedy

3. Carrie-Anne Hoo

4. Bella Payne

5. Calla McGill

6. Chloe Qin

7. Ashley Kurizaki (out rd 1)

8. Nadia Valdez

9. Hi'llani Williams (out rd 1)

10. Katiana Gonzalez

11. Addison Bowman

12. Ellery Mendell

13. Blair Gill

14. Alyson Shannon

15. Katie Spencer

16. Olivia Cutone

Nishesh Basavareddy, the 19-year-old Stanford junior who turned pro earlier this month, has qualified for the ATP 250 in Brisbane Australia this week. Basvareddy, the No. 12 seed in qualifying with his ATP ranking of 138, defeated former Wake Forest star and 2018 NCAA singles finalist Borna Gojo of Croatia 4-6, 7-6(4), 6-4 in the first round of qualifying and No. 6 seed and former ATP Top 10 Lucas Pouille of France 6-4, 6-4 in the final round of qualifying Sunday. 

Basavareddy, who won the USTA's Australian Open reciprocal wild card, will now play his first ATP main draw match in Brisbane.

Jon Wertheim's weekly tennis mailbag for Sports Illustrated is a must-read for every tennis fan, but there is always room for more top tennis writers who are willing to take questions from fans. The Athletic's Matt Futterman and Charlie Eccleshare answer queries about future stars and British prospects in particular in their recent mailbag. Ben Rothenberg at his Substack newsletter Bounces posted a two-part mailbag this month. Ben answers my question in Part Two. Part One is here.

USTA Winter National Championships Seeds, Draws

Tomorrow marks the start of the USTA Winter National Championships, with the 16s and 18s in Orlando Florida and the 12s and 14s in San Antonio Texas.

Below are the top 16 seeds in the 128-player singles draws:

Girls 18s:

1. Addison Lanton

2. JoAnna Kennedy

3. Carrie-Anne Hoo

4. Bella Payne

5. Calla McGill

6. Chloe Qin

7. Ashley Kurizaki

8. Nadia Valdez

9. Hi'llani Williams

10. Katiana Gonzalez

11. Addison Bowman

12. Ellery Mendell

13. Blair Gill

14. Alyson Shannon

15. Katie Spencer

16. Olivia Cutone

G16s:

1. Carlota Moreno

2. Aya Manning

3. Paige Wygodski

4. Kohana Darroch

5. Anna Bugaienko

6. Whitney Burke

7. Kayden Johnson

8. Sasha Miroshnichenko

9. Jensen Diianni

10. Anjani Vickneswaran

11. Alanna Ingalsbe

12. Addison Lindsay

13. Maria Navarro

14. Baotong Xu

15. Lauren Nolan

16. Aarini Bhattacharya

G14s:

1. Michelle Lee

2. Sofia Kedrin

3. Adelyn Gross

4. Anna Scott Laney

5. Olivia Lin

6. Isha Manchala

7. Evelynn Kwak

8. Masha Semenova

9. Natalie Frisbie

10. London Evans

11. Blake Chang

12. Nadia Poznick

13. Hannah Halabi

14. Daniella Sales

15. Ania Zabost

16. Madeline Cleary

G12s:

1. Violetta Mamina

2. Christina Li

3. Gabrielle Villegas

4. Luca Dupere

5. Mila Mikoczi Spivey

6. Kareena Cross

7. Jacqueline Nick

8. Amara Ama

9. Brielle Amey

10. Cataleya Brown

11. Nicole Blanco

12. Chloe Anthony

13. Emma Li

14. Piper Yea

15. Violetta Li

16. Ilinca Gusatu

B18s:

1. Nav Dayal

2. Prathinav Chunduru

3. Braeden Gelletich

4. Arnav Bhandari

5. Gus Grumet

6. Nolan Balthazor

7. Brody Nejedly Krall

8. Blake Anderson

9. Winston Lee

10. Brennon Chow

11. Benjamin Saltman

12. Tej Bhagra

13. Mark Krupkin

14. Nathan Germino

15. Bryan Assi

16. Cooper Han

B16s:

1. Safir Azam

2. Theo Hegarty

3. Alexander Suhanitski

4. Artem Dmytrenko

5. Lucas Smith

6. Lixing Jiang

7. Mangus Weng

8. William McEwan

9. Maddox Bose

10. Anish Poojari

11. Gurjot Singh

12. Ilias Bouzoubaa

13. Joseph Nau

14. Rafael Lopez

15. Nicolas Pedraza

16. Tristan Stratton

B14s:

1. Eli Kaminski

2. Rafael Pawar

3. Aayush Vartak

4. Dylan Meineke

5. Zesen Wang

6. Mason Menyhart

7. Manas Kondapalli

8. Damian Gutheil

9. Aleksandar Doskovic

10. Zander Abrams

11. Ved Vanga

12. Takuto Goh

13. Arjun Krishnan

14. Rishit Sharma

15. Tristan Ascenzo

16. Joseph Kim

B12s:

1. David Bender

2. Stanley Oriala Jr.

3. Keita Iwata

4. Micahel Rybak

5. Max D Smith

6. Evan Fan

7. Udham Singh

8. Selwyn Olufemi-Owoeye

9. Sebastian Cheaney

10. Brishan Paul

11. William McGugin

12. Mateo Vicens

13. Christian Pohoski

14. Wyatt Markham

15. London Slaton

16. Keita Iida

Charlie Cooper Named ITF Junior Wheelchair Player of the Year; Joint Decides Against College After All; United Cup Kicks Off 2025 ATP/WTA Season

A quick post today, with the draws not yet up for the USTA Winter Nationals, which begin Saturday in Orlando Florida and San Antonio Texas. I'll post the seeds and links to the draws Friday.

Charlie Cooper was named ITF boys Junior Wheelchair Player of the Year last week; the 17-year-old, who has been a part of the junior wheelchair competition held in conjunction with the USTA Boys 18s and 16s championships in Kalamazoo, and at the US Open Junior Wheelchair event the past three years, won the US Open junior title in September of this year. Ksenia Chasteau of France was named the ITF girls Junior Wheelchair player of the year. For more on these awards, see this article at the ITF website.

Parsa Nemati broke the news that Maya Joint, the University of Texas freshman, will not be competing for the Longhorns this spring, as she had originally planned. I am not sure what changed in the weeks since I spoke to her in Midland for this Tennis Recruiting Network article; I sensed no ambivalence or lack of commitment on her part when I interviewed her for the article, although she did admit that she had spent very little time in Austin during the fall, when she was playing pro events and then the Master'U BNP Paribas international collegiate competition to close out November.

This article from Forbes, with Nemati's tweet as its source, provides a synopsis of her enrollment and the pro or college dilemma. There is an error in it; Joint grew up in Grosse Pointe Michigan, not Australia. 

The very short off season for professional tennis is even shorter than usual this year, with the United Cup, a dual-gender team competition, getting underway Friday in Australia. The United States is the top seed in the event, with Taylor Fritz, Denis Kudla, Robert Galloway(Wofford), Coco Gauff, Danielle Collins(Virginia), Desirae Krawczyk(Arizona State). For the list of players competing for all 18 teams, see this list.

Happy Holidays!

photo credit: Annie Spratt at unsplash.com

 

American Entries in Australian Open, AO Junior Champions Jamrichova and Sakamoto Receive Qualifying Wild Cards; 2022 Wimbledon Girls Champion Hovde to Join Duke; Anna Frey's NIL Deals with Head and FILA

As usual, I'll be taking several days off for the Christmas holiday, before returning to follow the USTA Winter Nationals, which begin Saturday in Orlando (16s and 18s) and San Antonio (12s and 14s). But I wanted to post the Australian Open entry lists and a couple of other items before that brief vacation.

Last week the qualifying fields for the Australian Open were announced, two weeks after the main draw fields were released. Below is the list of Americans who will be in Melbourne next month, in the order of their selection.

Main Draw:

MEN: 

Taylor Fritz

Tommy Paul

Frances Tiafoe

Ben Shelton

Sebastian Korda

Reilly Opelka

Brandon Nakashima

Alex Michelsen

Marcos Giron

Jenson Brooksby(PR)

Nishesh Basavareddy (USTA reciprocal wild card)

WOMEN:

Coco Gauff

Jessica Pegula

Emma Navarro

Danielle Collins

Madison Keys

Amanda Anisimova

Peyton Stearns

Katie Volynets

Ashlyn Krueger

McCartney Kessler

Taylor Townsend

Caty McNally(PR)

Bernarda Pera

Sloane Stephens

Caroline Dolehide

Sofia Kenin

Hailey Baptiste

Ann Li

Iva Jovic (USTA reciprocal wild card)

2024 ITF World Junior champion Emerson Jones has been announced as a main draw wild card, as has Maya Joint.

Qualifying:

WOMEN:

Alycia Parks

Robin Montgomery

Claire Liu

Varvara Lepchenko

Louisa Chirico

Usue Arconada

Emina Bektas

Hanna Chang

Sachia Vickery

Initial cutoff 221

MEN:

Christopher Eubanks

Nicolas Moreno De Alboran

Aleksandar Kovacevic

Michael Mmoh

Learner Tien

Mackenzie McDonald

Tristan Boyer

Mitchell Krueger

Zachary Svajda

Brandon Holt

Ethan Quinn

Patrick Kypson

Emilio Nava

Eliot Spizzirri

Initial cutoff 232

Wild cards were awarded to juniors Hayden Jones and Cruz Hewitt, Lleyton Hewitt's 16-year-old son, as well as Pepperdine sophomore Edward Winter.

In an Australian Open tradition that I wish all other slams would emulate, 2024 Australian Open junior champions Renata Jamrichova(SVK) and Rei Sakamoto(JPN) received qualifying wild cards. Wimbledon usually does this, but Roland Garros and the US Open do not.

Parsa Nemati announced on X Saturday that 2022 Wimbledon girls champion Liv Hovde will be joining Duke for the upcoming spring team season. Rumors had been circulating for several months that after two plus years as a pro the 19-year-old was interested in college tennis, but having signed with an agent after her Wimbledon title made eligibility a major question, which apparently was answered to Duke's satisfaction. Texas A&M, Oklahoma State and Duke on her short list, according to what I heard at Orange Bowl.

Last month 17-year-old Anna Frey, the social media influencer and blue chip prospect, was featured in this Forbes article about her NIL deals with Head and FILA. Frey, who has 2 million TikTok and 750,000 Instagram followers, is a high school junior. 

“I’m so excited to partner with HEAD,” said Anna Frey. “I love their commitment to the sport and to helping athletes reach their full potential. I’m excited to share this journey with you all and continue to encourage young people to pick up a racquet and get out on the court.”

Frey is also the newest brand ambassador for FILA, representing their innovative CASA FILA collection. She will showcase the line both on and off the court, wearing it during her matches and in her daily life to highlight its versatility as performance sportswear and lifestyle fashion.

Fonseca Defeats Tien for Next Gen ATP Finals Title; Oktiabreva, Gea, Nugroho, Tjen, Henning Win ITF WTT Titles; ITF J300 Bradenton Finals Videos

Joao Fonseca put himself in elite company today in the championship match at the Next Gen ATP Finals in Jeddah Saudi Arabia, defeating Learner Tien 2-4, 4-3(8), 4-0, 4-2 to become the third 18-year-old claim the title, joining Jannik Sinner(2019) and Carlos Alcaraz(2021).

The Brazilian, the youngest player in the eight-player field, defeated Tien, the second youngest, for the third time in the last 16 months and the second time this week, having won their US Open junior final in 2023 and their round robin meeting on Thursday.

Tien, the two-time Kalamazoo 18s champion, got off to a much better start than in their Thursday meeting, in which he lost the first eight games, but Fonseca won the pivotal tiebreaker, with Tien saving four set points from 3-6 and 6-7, but he was unable to convert his set point at 8-7 and Fonesca evened the match. Fonseca took control early in the third, with Tien throwing in the bulk of his unforced errors in the match during that set. Fonseca was holding much easier--he didn't face any break points in the final two sets--and that proved enough as he got the key break on a deciding point with Tien serving at 2-all and served out the title.

Fonseca, who had committed to Virginia for this fall before deciding to turn pro after a run to the quarterfinals at February's ATP event in Rio, went undefeated this week and took home a record $526,480.00, while Tien earned $336,820.00. 

For more on the final, with quotes from both players, see this article from the ATP.

Tien is scheduled to begin the 2025 season at the ATP 250 in Hong Kong, which starts with qualifying a week from today. He received his main draw entry via the ATP's Next Gen Accelerator program.

Because my December Aces column is always devoted to the champions of the major junior events in Florida that month, I am not able to feature some of the notable results by juniors and college players competing on the ITF men's and women's World Tennis Tour. Today there are five I want to highlight, four of whom won titles this weekend, the other back-to-back titles two weeks ago.

Sixteen-year-old Alisa Oktiabreva of Russia, who I saw at the 2023 Florida junior events (she won the doubles title at ITF J300 Bradenton, losing to Iva Jovic in singles there and Hannah Klugman the following week in Plantation), was out all of 2024, I presume with any injury, until she played a W15 event in Turkey the same week as the Orange Bowl. She lost in the quarterfinals, but this week, at another W15 in Turkey, she won the title as a wild card, beating  No. 2 seed Natalija Senic of Serbia 6-2, 1-0 ret. in todays' final. 

France's Arthur Gea, who Tien beat in the semifinals of the US Open Juniors in 2023, earned his second straight W15 title in Doha today, with the 19-year-old, seeded second, defeating qualifier Savriyan Danilov of Russia 6-4, 6-0 in the final. Gea, who has not had much Challenger-level success this fall, did not drop a set in his ten wins in Doha. 

Former collegians from Indonesia won the only two tournaments above the $15K level with former NC State standout Priska Nugroho, who left for the pro tour after her freshman year in 2022, won the W50 in India, her third and biggest title of the year. The 21-year-old, seeded eighth, defeated unseeded Thasaporn Naklo, the former Iowa State star from Thailand, 6-2, 7-6(3) in the final.  

Recent Pepperdine graduate Janice Tjen, who I will be featuring in my Aces due to her three titles this month, won the W35 in New Zealand and hasn't dropped a set in her 15 consecutive wins this month. The No. 7 seed this week, the 22-year-old All-American defeated No. 4 seed Hiromi Abe of Japan 6-2, 6-1 in the final. 

Phillip Henning, a 2023 Georgia graduate, won back-to-back titles at $15Ks in his home country of South Africa the first two weeks of December. The 24-year-old didn't drop a set in either event; the first week, as the No. 3 seed, he beat unseeded former Michigan Wolverine Nino Ehrenschneider of Germany 6-4, 6-1 in the final; last week as the No. 2 seed, Henning defeated top seed Kris van Wyck of South Africa 6-4, 6-4 in the final.

I have several weeks of work ahead to process the IMG Academy International videos and the Orange Bowl videos, but I did get the two ITF J300 Bradenton finals done today. The vantage point is not the best on the Stadium, with the stands quite far away from the action and the shadows a problem this time of year, but it does provide a better feel for the match when both players can be (usually) seen on the same point. 

Tien Beats Michelsen, Faces Fonseca for Next Gen ATP Finals Title Sunday; ITF Junior Year in Review; All 2024 UTR Pro Tennis Tour US Results

Learner Tien continued his breakout year today at the Next Gen ATP Finals in Jeddah, defeating friend and training partner Alex Michelsen in the semifinals 2-4, 4-2, 1-4, 4-0, 4-1 to advance to another meeting with Joao Fonseca of Brazil. Fonseca, who beat Tien 4-0, 4-0, 1-4, 4-2 in group play on Thursday, defeated Luca van Assche of France 4-2, 4-2, 4-1 in the other semifinal. Tien, who won seven games in a row after dropping the third set, is the first second player in Next Gen Finals history to beat the No. 1, No. 2 and No. 3 seeds in the tournament, with his wins over Arthur Fils, Michelsen and Jakub Mensik, the latter recently named ATP Newcomer of the Year.  Fonseca is the No. 8 seed, with Tien seeded No. 5. 

For more on the semifinal between Tien and Michelsen, see this article from the ATP. A feature on Tien from Reem Abulleil of Arab News is here. Sunday's final is at noon Eastern, and can be viewed on Tennis Channel in the United States.

The ITF recently published its annual year in review on the Junior Circuit, which tracks the notable winning streaks, historic firsts, and many other highlights from this year.  Fourteen-year-old Jana Kovackova of the Czech Republic is prominently featured, winning the most titles--eight singles and nine doubles--since 1996, when Federico Browne of Argentina won 21. 

The ITF did not provide a post-Orange Bowl article this year, which is unusual, as they always provide a recap of the J500 tournaments, but I was there in Plantation and you can read my summary of the year's last major junior tournament at the Tennis Recruiting Network.

The ITF's year-end rankings have been published, and they do differ from the final combined rankings on December 16, with players removed who did not play enough junior events to qualify for the year-end list. These rankings are particularly important for the boys, with the Top 10, Top 20 and Top 30 spots determining who gets wild cards to ATP Challenger main draws, qualifying, and ITF events, respectively. The 2024 Accelerator program information for boys and girls can be found in this ITF article. The tables for 2025 can be found on pages 8 and 9 of the 2025 summary of ITF Junior Circuit rule changes.

Last year, Learner Tien did not make the year-end rankings despite his two junior slam finals in 2023; this year, two-time junior slam champion Renata Jamrichova of Slovakia, No. 4 in the combined rankings, is missing from the year-end rankings, as is Roland Garros girls finalist Laura Samson of the Czech Republic, No. 8 in the combined rankings.

The official announcement has not been released, but Australia's Emerson Jones and Norway's Nicolai Budkov Kjaer will be named ITF World Junior Champions for 2024. 

With no UTR Pro Tennis Tour tournaments in the United States until they restart at the end of this month, it's a good time for a post of all results from 2024.

UTR PTT United States Results 2024

MEN:

January 1 Long Beach CA
Karue Sell d. Strong Kirchheimer 6-1, 6-4

January 7 Winston Salem NC
Theodore Dean d. Filippo Moroni 6-3, 6-1

January 14 Bonita Springs FL
Mateusz Terczynski d. Nicholas Buitrago 6-7(4), 6-4, 6-3

January 15 Fort Worth TX
Lui Maxted d. Duncan Chan 7-6(4), 7-5

January 28 Boca Raton FL
Mikel Anderson d. Daniel Salazar 7-5, 7-6(6)

February 26 Boca Raton FL 

Noah Rubin d. Vito Tonejc 6-0, 6-0

March 4 Long Beach CA

Sema Pankin d. Alexey Nesterov 7-6(5), 7-5

March 24 Newport Beach CA

Miles Jones d. Thomas Brown 6-3, 4-6, 7-6(2)

April 15 San Antonio TX

Trey Hilderbrand d. Osgar O'Hoisin 6-4, 6-4

April 28 Boca Raton FL

Alex Kuperstein d. Dian Nedev 7-5, 6-4

May 20 Newport Beach CA

Lui Maxted d. Duncan Chan 5-7, 6-2, 6-2

June 10 Charleston SC

Landon Ardila d. Lucas Brown 7-5, 6-3

July 8 Manchester CT

Adit Sinha d. Nathan Mao 7-6(5), 6-4

July 29 Boca Raton FL

Jack McCarthy d. Felipe Pinzon 6-7(5), 7-6(4), 6-4

August 11 Waco TX

Tadeas Paroulek d. Togan Tokac 6-1, 7-5

August 19 Boise ID

Sekou Bangoura d. Sean Hill 6-4, 6-1

August 26 South Bend IN

Chad Kissell d. Mitchell Sheldon 6-4, 6-3

September 1 Knoxville TN

Shunsuke Mitsui d. Zeke Clark 7-6(1), 6-2

September 15 Tallahassee FL

Viktor Markov d. Erik Schiessl 3-6, 6-3, 7-6(3)

September 16 Newport Beach CA

Maciej Rajski d. Andy Nguyen 6-4, 6-1

September 29 Boca Raton FL

Justin Roberts d. Jordan Reznik 7-6(6), 4-6, 6-4

October 14 Newport Beach CA

Oliver Tarvet d. Maciej Rajski 6-2, 6-2

October 27 Fayetteville AR

Yassine Dlimi d. Mehdi Benchakroun 6-3, 3-6, 6-2

November 3 Boca Raton FL

Hugo Car d. Daniel Milavsky 1-6, 6-2, 6-4

November 11 Malibu CA

Peter Makk d. Giles Hussey 7-5, 6-3

November 18 Fort Worth TX

Luc Koenig d. Louis Bowden 6-2, 3-6, 6-3

December 1 Winston-Salem NC

DK Suresh d. Luca Pow 7-6(2), 7-6(4)

WOMEN:

December 31 Boca Raton FL

Akasha Urhobo d. Carol Lee 4-6, 6-3, 6-2

January 8 Long Beach CA

Brandy Walker d. Elina Nepliy 6-2, 6-7(1), 6-2

January 21 Atlanta GA

Elizabeth Ionescu d. Ariana Pursoo 4-6, 6-4 3-0, ret.

February 11 Boca Raton FL

Maria Kozyreva d. Cadence Brace, walkover

February 26 Long Beach CA

Christina Lyutova d. Ava Markham 6-3, 6-1

March 10 Boca Raton FL

Mia Horvit d. Malkia Ngounoue 6-4, 6-1

April 1 Newport Beach CA

Megan McCray d. Kayla Chung 7-6(1), 6-4

April 15 San Antonio TX

Victoria Rodriguez d. Ana Sofia Sanchez 6-1, 6-3

April 21 Boca Raton FL

Malkia Ngounoue d. Jada Robinson 6-1, 5-7, 6-4

May 13 Newport Beach CA

Ashley Kratzer d. Carolyn Campana 6-2, 6-4

June 10 Charleston SC

Piper Charney d. Kaitlyn Carnicella 4-6, 7-6(5), 6-3

July 1 Manchester CT

Amy Zhu d. Ariana Pursoo 6-3, 6-3

July 15 Long Beach CA

Emma Charney d. Anne Christine Lukemeyer 6-3, 6-3

August 4 Boca Raton FL

Katherine Hui d. Zoe Hammond 6-1, 6-0

August 19 Boise ID

Elise Wagle d. Neena Feldman 6-7(5), 7-6(3), 6-2

September 1 Knoxville TN

Iryna Shymanovich d. Catherine Aulia 2-6, 6-1, 6-3

September 8 Lawrence KS

Iryna Shymanovich d. Camille Kiss 6-1, 6-2

October 7 Newport Beach CA

Kylie Mckenzie d. Veronika Miroshnichenko 6-3, 6-4

October 20 Fayetteville AR

Caroline Driscoll d. Katarina Pavlechova 7-5, 3-6, 6-4

November 3 Boca Raton FL

Harper Stone d. Zaire Clarke 6-3, 6-2

December 1 Winston-Salem NC

Carolyn Ansari d. Nevena Carton 6-1, 7-5

December 8 Boca Raton FL

Thaisa Pedretti d. Alicia Herrero Linana 6-4, 6-4

December 8 Newport Beach CA

Veronika Miroshnichenko d. Brandy Walker 6-4, 3-6, 6-1

My Orange Bowl ITF J500 Recap; Tien Beats Fils, Meets Friend Michelsen in Semifinals at Next Gen ATP Finals; Pepperdine Women Name Interim Coach; ATP Announces $1.3 Million in Player Subsidies in New Program

My last recap of the year is out today at the Tennis Recruiting Network, as I review the ITF J500 Orange Bowl Championships. Andres Santamarta Roig joined Jordan Lee in winning the Florida Sunshine Double, the first time in the history that both 16s and 18s champions won both the IMG Academy/Eddie and the Orange Bowl titles in the same year. Tereza Krejcova came close to claiming both, reaching the final at the ITF J300 in Bradenton before flirting with disaster before coming through in a third-set tiebreaker at the Orange Bowl. 

Those of you who followed my daily coverage may not learn much from these recaps, but I find them very important to write, as I can look back on the week with a perspective that isn't always possible in the daily reports. They also serve as a historical record, which I reference each year a week or two before the tournament, to refresh my memory. 

With the Junior Orange Bowl finishing early this year and the USTA Winter Nationals still more than a week away, there isn't any junior tennis going on right now, which has given me an opportunity to follow the Next Gen ATP Finals in Jeddah Saudi Arabia more than I have in previous years. The tournament, which began in 2017, was moved much later on the calendar this year than in previous editions, and the fact that three Americans, all of whom I've covered in the past two years on the USTA and ITF Junior Circuit (and in college), were in the eight-player field piqued my interest.

Two of them, 20-year-old Alex Michelsen and 19-year-old Learner Tien, will play in the semifinals, with the good friends and training partners meeting for the first time as professionals Saturday. They faced off in the quarterfinals of the ITF J300 Easter Bowl in 2022, with Michelsen winning that contest 6-4 ,7-5 after Tien had won the San Diego J300 (then J1) the week before. Michelsen went on to beat Nishesh Basavareddy 6-2, 6-3 in the final.

Michelsen, the No. 2 seed in the tournament, finished 3-0 in the red group, having a short day when Jerry Shang retired trailing 4-1, 1-1.  Tien, the No. 5 seed, avenged his four-set US Open loss to top seed Arthur Fils of France with a 4-2, 4-2, 3-4(4), 4-3(5) upset. After getting blitzed by an on-fore Joao Fonseca of Brazil in the first two sets in his round robin loss Thursday, the two-time Kalamazoo champion came out much more aggressive against Fils and sustained that level throughout the match. 

The eighth-seeded Fonseca, who beat No. 3 seed Jakub Mensik of the Czech Republic in five tiebreakers 3-4(4), 4-3(8), 4-3(5), 3-4(4), 4-3(5) to go undefeated in the blue group, will face Luca van Assche of France, the No. 6 seed, who beat No. 7 seed Nishesh Basavareddy 3-4(2), 4-3(7), 4-2, 4-2 to make the semifinals of the event for the second year in a row.

The ATP's preview of the Michelsen-Tien semifinal here.

After Pepperdine's Per Nilsson was named women's head coach at Florida at the end of October, Pepperdine men's head coach Adam Schaechterle has been guiding the women's program while a replacement was found. The Waves didn't look far, with men's associate head coach Tassilo Schmid named interim women's coach for the upcoming dual match season in a release today. Schaechterle was also named Director of Tennis in the announcement.

The ATP announced the results of its new income guarantee Baseline program for Challenger-level players, installed this year. Twenty-six players received a total of $1.3 million dollars in an initiative designed to assist those outside the Top 100 in achieving some financial stability as they work their way up the rankings.  For more details on the three "pillars" of the program, and the plans for enhancing it for 2025, see this recent article from the ATP. 

My Orange Bowl 16s Recap; Michelsen Secures Semifinal Berth at Next Gen ATP Finals, Basavareddy and Tien Can Join Him with Wins Friday; Tennis Europe Names Junior Players of the Year; Brooksby Reveals Autism Diagnosis

Fourteen-year-old Jordan Lee has put together an outstanding year in 2024 and he closed it with 12 consecutive straight-sets victories to capture the 16s titles at the IMG Academy International Tennis Championships in Bradenton and the Orange Bowl in Plantation. Fifteen-year-old Xiaotong (Bella) Wang of China lost in the first round at IMG, to eventual champion Hanne Estrada of Mexico, but rolled through the draw at the Orange Bowl the following week. My recap of the Orange Bowl 16s tournament is available today at the Tennis Recruiting Network.

Americans went 2-1 in group play today at the Next Gen ATP Finals in Jeddah Saudia Arabia, with 20-year-old Alex Michelsen, who went winless in last year's event, earning a place in the semifinals with one more match remaining in group play. Michelsen, who had beaten 19-year-old Nishesh Basavareddy in the red group yesterday, defeated Luca van Assche of France 1-4, 4-2, 4-3(6), 4-3(5), while Basavareddy defeated Jerry Shang of China 3-4(4), 4-2, 4-2, 4-1. Basavareddy will face van Assche Friday, with the winner advancing to the semifinals along with Michelsen.

In the blue group, 18-year-old Joao Fonseca of Brazil, the youngest player in the field, advanced to the semifinals with a 4-0, 4-0, 1-4, 4-2 win over Learner Tien. Arthur Fils of France defeated Jakub Mensik of the Czech Republic 4-2, 4-3(4), 4-2, eliminating Mensik. Fils and Tien will play for the second time this year (US Open main draw round 1) with the winner advancing to the semifinals. 

All matches are available on Tennis Channel.

Tennis Europe has announced its Junior Tour Players of the Year for 2024 in the 14s and 16s age divisions, with a team award for the 12s.

Jana Kovackova, who is No. 16 in the ITF junior rankings, didn't win Les Petits As or the European Championships, but she posted two Super Category titles in 14s, the Wimbledon 14U event, despite spending much of her time competing on the ITF Junior Circuit, not in Tennis Europe events.

The boys 14s Player of the Year is Scott Watson of Great Britain, who won the year-end Junior Masters and was runner-up at the European Championships.

The girls 16s Player of the Year is Tea Kovacevic of Bosnia and Herzegovina, who played the 14s in the recently completed IMG Academy International and Junior Orange Bowl tournament. Kovacevic lost to Daniel Baranes of Israel in both events: the final in Bradenton and the round of 16 in Coral Gables.

The boys 16s Player of the Year is Goncalo Da Rosa Castro of Portugal, who won two Category 2 titles. I would have expected the award to go to Yannick Alexandrescou of Romania, the European 16s champion, who played No. 1 singles for the Junior Davis Cup finalists.

There were also awards for Overseas Player of the Year, Doubles Team of the Year and National Team of the Year. 

Jenson Brooksby, out for two years due to injuries and a suspension related to missing drug tests, is back training, participating in the USTA's preseason in Lake Nona. The 2018 Kalamazoo 18s champion spoke with Howard Fendrich of the Associated Press last week about living with autism, a diagnosis he first received as a toddler. Although he is now "on the very mild end of the spectrum" according to Michelle Wagner, a behavior analyst specializing in autism, she said he was a "severe" case when she first began working with him as a child. Brooksby explained why he decided to reveal this now, as he prepares to return to tennis competition in Australia next year. 

“I just want people to know me for who I am fully, and that’s just another part of me,” Brooksby said. “I’ve had a lot of time out of playing and a lot of thinking I’ve had to do.”

The AP article is here.

Davletshina Wins 12s Version of Sunshine Double at Junior Orange Bowl; China's Qi Hongjin Takes Both Florida Titles in B14s; Michelsen and Tien Win Openers at ATP Next Gen Finals; Australia's 18s and 16s National Championships Complete

This has been a banner year for dominating runs at the big junior events in South Florida, with four different players winning the younger set's version of the Sunshine Double this month. After Jordan Lee and Andres Santamarta Roig went back-to-back in the 16s and ITFs in Bradenton and Plantation, two more players added Junior Orange Bowl titles to the championships they had won earlier this month at the IMG Academy International Tennis Championships in Bradenton.

Top seed Nikol Davletshina of the United States swept the girls 12s titles, while Qi Hongjin of China took both titles in the boys 14s. Davletshina, who won the Easter Bowl 12s in March, played the 14s in the Clays and Hard Courts this summer, but with these two titles the 11-year-old is 18-0 this year in the 12s, winning three of the most prestigious tournaments held in the United States.

The results from the Junior Orange Bowl finals today in Coral Gables:

G12s

Singles:
Nikol Davletshina[1](USA) d. Isha Manchala[2](USA) 6-0, 6-3

Doubles:
Ayul Kim and Seohyeon Kim[4](KOR) d. Ayaka Iwasa and Shina Okuyama[9](JPN) 7-6(4), 6-3

G14s

Singles:
Sakino Miyazawa[13](JPN) d. Sofiia Bielinska[9](UKR) 6-4, 6-1

Doubles:
Olivia De Los Reyes and Emery Combs[5](USA) d. Shristi Selvan and Vibha Gogineni[7](USA) 6-3, 6-0

B12s

Singles:

Novak Palombo[2](AUS) d. Max D Smith[32](USA) 6-3, 3-6, 6-4

Doubles:

Ethan Jake Frans(INA) and Mingeon Choi(KOR)[2] d. Max D Smith and Wyatt Markham(USA)[9] 6-2, 7-5

B14s

Singles:

Qi Hongjin[10](CHN) d. Taiki Takizawa[1](AUS) 7-6(0) 1-0, ret.

Doubles: Victor Pignaton and Gadin Arun[3](USA) d. Ruben Stanmore(GBR) and Har Abir Sekhon[5](AUS) 6-3, 6-3

Complete draws are available at the USTA's tournament page.

Very little tennis is being played this week around the world, so the attention is squarely on the Next Gen ATP Finals in Jeddah Saudi Arabia, particularly here in the United States, which has three players competing: Alex Michelsen, Learner Tien(USC) and Nishesh Basavareddy(Stanford).

Michelsen, 20, and Basavareddy, 19, were drawn into the same round robin group, and played each other on opening day of the five-day event. Michelsen won 2-4, 4-3(5), 4-3(4), 4-2 and will play Luca Van Assche of France on day two. Van Assche defeated Jerry Shang of China 4-3(3), 2-4, 4-1, 4-3(5). Shang and Basavareddy will play in the other match in the red group.

Tien was drawn into the group with two ATP Top 50 players: No. 20 Arthur Fils of France and No. 48 Jakub Mensik of the Czech Republic. The 19-year-old defeated Mensik today, saving a match point in the fifth-set tiebreaker in his 4-3(6), 4-3(3), 2-4, 2-4, 4-3(8) victory, despite Mensik's tournament record 20 aces. The two-time Kalamazoo 18s champion will face 18-year-old Joao Fonseca of Brazil in a rematch of last year's US Open Junior final, which Fonseca won 4-6, 6-4, 6-3. Fonseca posted an even bigger upset than Tien today, beating Fils for the second time this year, 3-4(9), 4-2, 4-1, 1-4, 4-1. Fils and Mensik will meet in the other blue group match Thursday, with the loser unlikely to advance to the semifinals.

For the explanation of the scoring being used, and other rules and format innovations, see this page on the tournament site.

There are match recaps for each of today's four matches on the ATP website. For a feature on the three Americans, see this article. Although Basavareddy did live and play in Southern California before he was 12, the vast majority of his competition and development took place in Carmel Indiana. Tien and Michelsen were much closer geographically during their development, and both trained  at Tier 1 Performance together for years.

Tennis Australia holds its 16s and 18s National Championships in December, and those events recently concluded in Bendigo Victoria. The 16s champions, who receive Australian Open Junior wild cards, are Ymerali Ibriami and Sarah Mildren. The 18s champions, who receive an Australian Pro tournament wild card, are Ava Beck and Lachlan McFadzean. The tournaments are not like those the USTA holds for its Level 1 National Championships, with the Australian events much smaller, with qualifying and main draw entries of 48 players, which are based on UTR and prize money in 18s, with players competing in round robin and knockout rounds. The Tennis Australia tournament page is here; a recap of the finals is here.

Division I Coaches Weigh in on NCAA's Decision to Award Tennis Championships to USTA National Campus in Lake Nona Through 2037

Last week's news that the NCAA had awarded the USTA's Lake Nona National Campus the Division I Tennis Championships for 2029-2037 took many in the college tennis community by surprise, although I had been hearing about the value of an Omaha model for tennis, based on the College Baseball World Series there, for more than ten years. I wrote an article for the Tennis Recruiting Network about this possibility back in 2022 after talking with coaches and players at the NCAAs in Champaign that year.

The obvious advantages of a permanent site were counteracted by a meaningful number of coaches who believed the tournament should be on a college campus, which had been the norm prior to the 2019 NCAA championships, held for the first time at the USTA's National Campus outside Orlando. Central Florida is the host, and plays its matches at the National Campus, but the university's campus is not nearby. 

The reviews from the three times the event was held in Lake Nona previously (2019, 2021, 2023) have been mixed, and the hopes that the Tennis Channel facility there would lead to more exposure for the tournament have not been realized. I have not personally attended any of those three NCAAs, but I did not feel the experience watching remotely did justice to what should be, by a wide margin, the crown jewel of collegiate tennis.

Improvements the USTA has said it will implement at the NCAA's behest (as noted in the release below)--an additional indoor facility, with adequate seating in the existing facility, more shade, better scoring infrastructure and a better student-athlete experience--are the key for many of the coaches I spoke to about this announcement at the Orange Bowl last week. I talked with many coaches about it, not all of them were willing to go on the record, but here are the comments from five who were. 

Brett Masi, USC men's head coach:

It sounds like a good opportunity if the right resources as they're saying will be presented and put forth for the cause. There's a lot of great facilities that we have across the country on college campuses that we've always looked forward to going to, so if the USTA can actually put that stamp and landmark like an Omaha has, then sure. 

I've always said that Ojai, for example, is so special to me, it's a great spot in Southern California yes, but it's the people around it who come and support it every year for a hundred-plus years. Those are the things that make it great. Why was Georgia so great for so many years before they started to rotate it? It's the people who always volunteered, always helped, it was always such a great venue. Obviously Georgia has a great tennis facility too, but it's the people around it who supported it. So as long as we have the support, the people in the community can make it a special thing, sure why not have an Omaha in Orlando?

It will be interesting to see if they go with sixteen (teams at the final site) again or if it's going to stay at eight. Who knows if we're going to go back to a spring national championships for individuals as well. If all that stuff is in place, maybe they do have the right facility for it. 

Jordan Szabo, Auburn women's head coach:

"I'm personally excited for it because I really like it in Orlando. From a coach's perspective, we've been down there so many times and there's so many practice courts. That's the biggest thing for me. I know that sounds crazy, but I just love the resources to be able to practice and do what you need to do to prepare for a main event. 

You can play matches simultaneously with both sides (of the collegiate facility) the same. Generally you have pretty good weather. The indoor factor there is a little strange, not having parents watch players there is really tough. 

I personally think it's a good result, I do think it's weird that Central Florida gets to host it for ten years, a school gets to host it, but it does feel very much like a neutral site. Personally, if the USTA does what they say they are going to do, hopefully they can make it a bigger and better event and having some continuity of going there I think will be a good result.

Billy Pate, Princeton men's head coach:

Talking about it either on the ITA (Intercollegiate Tennis Association) board or op com, different groups, we talked about the idea of an Omaha, if that would be the best thing to promote college tennis, having the consistency of knowing where you're going every year and then build on that. I think it's very good from that standpoint, but I know there are lot of people, I think there's a romance with Georgia. Coaches and spectators I think would agree that was the best site for a long time, but when people started to bid and build new facilities, the NCAA felt they had to move it around. I hear the arguments for Georgia, but if you're only going to have it there once every four years, you lose that consistency.

Clearly, in my opinion, the biggest criticism is the indoor situation. They've been quite fortunate not to have rain a few times and we all know if you had to go to the current indoor and had any kind of crowd support, it would be extremely limited. They are making that effort to build a new indoor that would have spectator seating and make a great fan environment, and that's a huge plus and I'm excited to see what will happen. 

The other question is will it be televised? Tennis Channel has a studio there and that's a big component that brings added value as well. I also think as the community around Lake Nona--I don't think of it as much as Orlando, but more of a suburb, a smaller community--builds up the infrastructure, more shops, more restaurants, more hotels, I think that's going to add more flavor to the event as well. And it's close to the airport, which is really a plus.

I think the relationship the USTA has with the ITA has never been better and I think that's a positive. Obviously the USTA has the resources to promote this if they choose do to so, and it can be a win-win.

Per Nilsson, Florida women's head coach:

I think they should have done this a long time ago. It gives the location the time to build it up, sort of like Georgia did back in the day. The reason it worked there was the community got behind it, people got used to it, and I think the USTA is wanting to do the same thing. 

We did a few years there and it got better each year until we moved away and went somewhere else. But now, with the commitment they are doing, they can build it into something special. I'm sure there will be schools who think it's far away, but they have the infrastructure, everything we want to be able to do it. I'm really hoping they step up and it sounds like they will. 

They've outlined all the things we've been concerned about, and I like that they put in there that if this (fall individuals) pilot program doesn't go through, they are willing to do the individuals. Because I think it's a disaster to have it in the fall.

Drake Bernstein, Georgia women's head coach:
(Georgia is hosting the NCAAs in 2026 and 2027)

We are all interested in elevating college tennis  and hopefully we can build some of that momentum in Athens the next two years. 

We hope to give the student-athletes the experience of a lifetime in the couple years of the tournament being on campus for a while.

USTA NATIONAL CAMPUS AWARDED 10-YEAR BID TO HOST

NCAA DI MEN’S AND WOMEN’S TENNIS CHAMPIONSHIPS

Orlando facility cemented as home of college tennis; USTA commits to major infrastructure enhancements by 2028

ORLANDO, Fla., December 9, 2024 – The NCAA today announced that it has approved a bid to award the USTA National Campus the NCAA Division I Men’s and Women’s Tennis Championships for a 10-year period beginning in 2028. This landmark agreement will cement Orlando and the USTA National Campus as the home of college tennis, and aims to replicate the successful model set forth by the Men’s College World Series and Women’s College World Series, held annually in Omaha, Neb., and Oklahoma City, respectively.

The USTA plans to make a number of infrastructure enhancements that will not only elevate the Championships for both student-athletes and fans, but also create a lasting impact on the Orlando community. Included in these capital projects are the addition of six indoor courts (bringing the total number of available indoor courts to 12) with improved viewing areas for all 12 indoor courts; permanent shade structures at the Collegiate Center, which contains 12 outdoor competition courts; and enhanced student-athlete amenities and scoring infrastructure.

“This is a momentous day for the USTA and for college tennis,” said Lew Sherr, CEO and Executive Director, USTA. “Supporting college tennis is a growing priority for the USTA as it is not only the aspirational dream of youth tennis players across the country, but is also an increasingly vital part of the elite player development pathway. We are proud to bring this event to Orlando for years to come and are excited to work alongside the NCAA and all of our local partners to elevate this event and give college tennis the platform it so richly deserves.”

In addition to the infrastructure investments, the USTA has committed to work with the NCAA and other college tennis stakeholders to raise the profile of the Championships. This includes both increased on-site fan engagement, as well as a commitment to supplement existing NCAA broadcast agreements.

"We are excited about this agreement with the USTA and UCF to serve as long-term hosts for the NCAA Division I Men's and Women's Tennis Championships," said John Bugner, NCAA director of championships and alliances. "The existing track record of hosting successful NCAA tennis championships, along with the continued improvements to the USTA National Campus were integral to our decision-making process. With this commitment from both the USTA and NCAA, we're looking forward to what can be achieved in growing and enhancing the student-athlete and fan experience over the 10 years of the agreement."

The NCAA previously announced that the USTA National Campus was awarded the 2028 NCAA Division I Men’s and Women’s Tennis Championships. That year’s event will now mark the first of 10 consecutive years, concluding in 2037, that the Orlando facility will host the final three rounds of the season-ending team championships. Should the individual singles and doubles championships, which are currently being held in the fall as part of a two-year pilot program, move back to the spring, the USTA National Campus will also host those events each year.

“We are thrilled to partner with the USTA as co-hosts for the NCAA Division I Tennis Championships,” said UCF Vice President and Director of Athletics, Terry Mohajir. “This is a testament to our community’s passion for sports and our commitment to providing an unforgettable experience for athletes and fans from all over. Being able to host prestigious events such as this over a 10-year period continues to shine the spotlight on Orlando as a premier sports destination while also strengthening our college athletics brand.”

G14s Semifinals Set at Rain-Plagued Junior Orange Bowl, Two Rounds of Singles in B12s and 14s Scheduled for Tuesday

I spent the day traveling, so just a brief post with some information on the Junior Orange Bowl 12s and 14s which began Thursday at three sitese in Miami. I am in not covering the tournament in person this year, so my information is nothing more than what I can glean from the website, but it's obvious that rain has been a problem again this year, after rain prevented the tournament from beginning for several days last year. 

Last year doubles was canceled entirely; this year some doubles have been played, with the B14s now in the quarterfinals, while the other divisions have not progressed that far.

The G14s are the closest to being on schedule, with their quarterfinals completed today. The schedule had the B12s, who did not play on the first day due to an administrative error in the draw that caused it to be redone, were to play twice today, but only got one round completed. A match remains unfinished in the G12s quarterfinals. Below are the results as of tonight (with player countries!); This is the message on the USTA tournament website:

All matches for Tuesday have been scheduled and are on the draw sheets. Rain is expected again tomorrow and possibly overnight. We will update the homepage at 6:30am to let everyone know the conditions of the courts and if the schedule will be played. Fingers crossed...

B12s quarterfinals:

Max D Smith[32](USA) v Haruto Tamaki[14](JPN)

Nanato Agui(JPN) v Sebastian Lavorato[11](AUS)

Camelot Carnello[12](USA) v James Borchard[10](USA)

Georgii Abushenko(RUS) v Novak Palombo[2]((AUS)

B14s quarterfinals:

Taiki Takizawa[1](AUS) v Anay Kulkarni[14](USA)

Dongjae Kim[3](KOR) v Daniil Berezin[13](USA)

Qi Hongjin[10](CHN) v Hruthik Katakam[16](IND)

Gadin Arun[5](USA) v Ethan Domingo[2](AUS)

G12s quarterfinal results:

Nikol Davletshina[1](USA) d. Christina Li[13](USA) 6-2, 6-4

Ayul Kim[22](KOR) d. Shangran Cai[17](CHN) 7-6(8), 6-2

Seohyeon Kim[7](KOR) v Josephine Zhou[27](USA) (Tuesday 9 a.m.)

Isha Manchala[2](USA) d. Ana Maric[11](AUS) 6-4, 6-2

G14s quarterfinal results:

Sakino Miyazawa(JPN)[13] d. Daniel Baranes[30](ISR) 6-4, 6-0

Tori Russell[14](AUS) d. Jinling Shi[5](CHN) 6-4, 1-6, 6-4

Sofiia Bielinska[9](UKR) d. Teaghan Keys [23](USA) 6-3, 6-2

Sim Siyoen[7](KOR) d. Caroline Shao[2](USA) 6-3, 6-7(6), 6-3