Top American juniors headed to Mexico for Junior World Team Event qualifiers
A dozen of top juniors will represent the United States in Mexico this week in the qualifying rounds of three premier international junior team competitions. Players ages 16-and-under will compete in the Junior Davis Cup and the Junior Billie Jean King Cup by BNP Paribas, while those 14-and-under will compete in the ITF World Junior Tennis event.
Puerto Vallarta, Mexico will host the events from May 5-7.
These tournaments mark the first time the United States will participate in these worldwide junior events since 2019. After competition cancellation in 2020, the U.S. chose not to send teams in 2021 due to lingering COVID-19 concerns.
Nikita Filin will lead the U.S. junior Davis Cup team. Photo: Mike Lawrence/USTA
Before the COVID-19 pandemic, the U.S. Junior Billie Jean King Cup team was the three-time defending champions, the U.S. boys won back-to-back World Junior Tennis titles in 2018 and 2019, and the U.S. Junior Davis Cup advanced to the 2019 final—held at the USTA National Campus.
The North/Central America and Caribbean Final Qualifying events will begin with three days of round-robin play. Each stage consists of two singles matches and one doubles match. Of the four countries competing, the top two teams will advance to competition later this year.
The U.S. is bidding to earn a spot in the 2022 Junior Davis Cup and Junior Billie Jean King Cup by BNP Paribas Finals, which will take place conurrently from Nov. 1 through 6 in Antalya, Turkey, and the ITF World Junior Tennis Finals. Prostejov, Czech Republic will host the ITF World Junior Tennis Finals at an as-of-yet undetermined date.
The full U.S. team nominations for each event are as follows:
Junior Davis Cup
Nikita Filin (15; Wilmette, Ill.)
Rudy Quan (16; Thousand Oaks, Calif.)
Alex Razeghi (15; Humble, Texas)
Captain: Jon Glover
Junior Billie Jean King Cup
Maya Joint (16; Grosse Pointe, Mich.)
Iva Jovic (14; Torrance, Calif.)
Mia Slama (16; Boca Raton, Fla.)
Captain: Jamea Jackson
ITF World Junior Tennis – Boys
Keaton Hance (13; Torrance, Calif.)
Jack Kennedy (13, Huntington, N.Y.)
Carel Ngounoue (13; Washington, D.C.)
Captain: Jose Caballero
ITF World Junior Tennis – Girls
Tyra Grant (14; Bordighera, Italy)
Shannon Lam (13; East Brunswick, N.J.)
Julieta Pareja (13; Carlsbad, Calif.)
Captain: Lori Riffice
The U.S. has won six Junior Billie Jean King Cup titles (2008, 2012, 2014, 2017, 2018, 2019); three Junior Davis Cup titles (1999, 2008, 2014); seven World Junior Tennis girls’ titles (1992, 2007-10, 2013, 2017) and six World Junior Tennis boys’ titles (2002-03, 2008, 2012, 2018, 2019). Former U.S. junior international team members include Jim Courier, Andy Roddick, James Blake, Lindsay Davenport, and Sloane Stephens. Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, and Novak Djokovic also have represented their respective countries in junior international team competition.
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