Meet the best junior tennis players aiming to become the next big stars of the game

The best junior players in the world are reaching the end of another hectic season and some stars of the future have emerged.

While the tennis world naturally focuses on the biggest names on the main draws of the ATP and WTA Tours, the ITF do a fine job of promoting tennis at all levels of the game away from the spotlight of the major events in tennis.

That includes a Masters Tour and even a Beach Tennis tour, yet it is the ITF’s busy junior tournament schedule that is worth keeping an eye on.

Here we will find players who could be huge stars in the game in the next few years, with top 10 star Holger Rune winning the ITF’s World Tennis Tour Junior Finals in 2019 and teenage protege Mirra Andreeva shining on the Girls’ juniors tour before her breakthrough at Grand Slam level in 2023.

The star of the show on the ITF’s junior tour right now is Brazil’s Joao Fonseca, with the 17-year-old topping the rankings in the Boys’ category after he won his first Grand Slam title at the US Open in September.

Mexico’s Rodrigo Pacheco Méndez is No 2 in the Boys’ rankings after winning 12 tiles on the ITF Juniors circuit in his fledgling career, with Britain’s Henry Searle ranked at No 7 after his win at the Wimbledon Juniors event last summer.

There are also some promising British junior players in the Girls’ ranks, with Hannah Klugman reaching her first ITF 1000 quarter-final in Shrewsbury last week as the 14-year-old proved she can compete against much more experienced opponents on the senior tour.

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Mimi Xu is another young Brit making her mark on the junior circuit, with Alina Korneeva the No 1 ranked player on the Girls tour after her wins at the Australian Open and French Open in 2023.

American teenager Clervie Ngounoue is another player to watch, after her Junior Wimbledon win last July helped her rise to No 1 in the Junior rankings before she was usurped by the impressive Korneeva.

Now the 2023 season is coming to an end with two major events on the Juniors circuit.

The 2023 Davis Cup Juniors Finals were played last week in Córdoba, where Czechia continued their recent dominance of international junior team competition by beating Italy at the 16-and-under event on Sunday.

Boys’ world No. 35 Maxim Mrva was the star of the day for Czechia, who revelled in the moment of winning a big title for his country.

“It’s an amazing feeling. I cannot even describe it,” Mrva told the ITF.

“We are so happy. We were a [strong] team from the beginning. We believed in ourselves. And that’s the most important thing.”

The Girls version of this competition will take place this week, with the Billie Jean King Cup Juniors featuring these nations:

Teams have been split into four groups from where three days of round-robin action will take place, starting on Monday 6 November. The top two nations in each group advance to the knockout stage.

Draw:
Group A
Czechia, Australia, Latvia, Canada

Group B
Great Britain, Argentina, Brazil, Kazakhstan

Group C
Japan, Spain, Colombia, Egypt

Group D
USA, Sweden, Serbia, Algeria