Top American juniors Alexa Noel, Tristan Boyer, Lea Ma and Drew Baird will represent the U.S. in tennis at the 2018 Youth Olympic Games, to be held Oct. 7-14 in Buenos Aires, Argentina.

 

The four players are among the 87-member Team USA traveling to compete in the Youth Olympic Games, which will feature competition in 32 sports for players ages 15-18. More than 4,000 athletes from 206 countries are expected to participate. The tennis competition features boys’ and girls’ singles, doubles and mixed doubles, and will be played on red clay at the Buenos Aires Lawn Tennis Club.

 

These talented young players will look to follow in the footsteps of their senior compatriots, who won three medals – one gold, one bronze and one silver – at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Led by Jack Sock and Bethanie Mattek-Sands, who won the gold medal in mixed doubles, the U.S. ADVERTISEMENT topped the tennis medal count. 

 

Noel, 16, of Summit, N.J., has been ranked as high as No. 5 in the ITF World Junior Rankings and has historically done well on clay – she won high-level Grade A and Grade 1 ITF junior singles titles last fall in Mexico and won the singles and doubles titles at another Grade 1 junior event this spring in Belgium. She is currently representing the U.S. in the 16-and-under Junior Fed Cup in Budapest, Hungary.

 

Boyer (pictured above), 17, of Altadena, Calif., has ranked as high as No. 8 in the world among juniors and reached the singles finals of the prestigious Easter Bowl and International Spring Championships hard-court junior events in California this spring. 

 

Ma, 17, of Dix Hills, N.Y., reached a career-high No. 19 in the junior rankings this July after winning the singles title at a Grade 1 clay-court junior event in June in Germany.

 

Baird, 18, of Holly Springs, N.C., won a prestigious Grade A clay-court junior singles title last fall in Mexico and has been ranked as high as No. 12 in the world junior rankings.

 

USTA National Coaches Alex Poorta (girls) and Jose Caballero (boys) will travel with and coach the players.

 

Visit Team USA's official website to find more information on the U.S. team. For more information on the 2018 Youth Olympic Games, visit www.buenosaires2018.com. For historical information on the Youth Olympic Games tennis competition, visit the ITF’s Youth Olympic Games page.