The USTA continues to explore ways to refine its junior tournament structure and improve the overall USTA junior tennis experience. 2022 was an incredibly successful year in the junior space, seeing an 18% rise in unique players and a 36% rise in L7 and Junior Circuit events.
Looking ahead to 2023, the USTA will continue to evolve its junior products to meet the needs of the vast majority of its participants.
One notable change is that 2022 was the final year of the JTT National Championships. This new direction was developed in consultation with the USTA sections and will enable the greater redistribution of resources to place an increased emphasis on local team tennis play, as well as reimagine a number of team tennis products.
The emphasis on local play, especially local Junior Team Tennis, will help to attract and retain junior recreational players while encouraging level-based play and also limiting the financial burden placed on families due to extensive travel.
A number of new team events were piloted in 2022 and an even greater emphasis will be placed on team tennis in 2023. In addition to the L2 Closed Intersectional team event and the L4 Closed Intrasectional team events, even more team events will be added into the L3 Opens throughout the year.
The L1 'Battle of the Sections' event will return in 2023 for the 16s and 18s divisions, but the other national team events—Intersectional Championships, Zone Team Championships and National Team Championships—will not be held in 2023. Additional resources will be made available to encourage team event competitions at the local level as the USTA continues to evaluate its national team products.
In the junior tournament space, there will be an adjustment made to the draw sizes for some national events in 2023. Additionally, the ITF World Tennis Number (WTN) will become the exclusive rating for USTA junior tournaments in the coming year—meaning that whenever a rating is used in any capacity for a USTA junior tournament, it must be ITF WTN.
See below for the specific national tournament changes in 2023:
Adjustment to the National Championship draw sizes for 16s and 18s (224 to 192)
USTA National Clay Court Championships
USTA National Championships
Adjustment to May and July L2 draw sizes for 16s and 18s (64 to 32)
Additional BG 12s compass draws added to L3 open calendar
This evaluation process will take place annually as the USTA continually refines its junior tournament structure and experience.
Sign up for our Newsletter
Sign up for our Newsletter