Tennis Europe Junior Tour | 12/14/16 & Under

Created in 1990, the Tennis Europe Junior Tour has long been the platform of choice for the launch of a successful career, and in recent years has heralded the arrival of such top players as Carlos Alcaraz, Iga Swiatek, Holger Rune, Elena Rybakina, Stefanos Tsitsipas, Emma Raducanu and Daniil Medvedev, to name but a few.

The tour is divided into three age groups; 16 & Under, 14 & Under and 12 & Under. In 2023, these three categories combined for a total of some 490 individual tournaments, staged across almost all 48 actiive member nations of Tennis Europe. The exponential growth of the tour - which last year saw participation from over 12,000 players - represents an astonishing diversification of its original 43 tournaments over two age groups.

In many ways a dress rehearsal for life on the professional circuit, the Tennis Europe Junior Tour also boasts a cumulative weekly ranking, 'Player of the Year' awards (former recipients include Rafael Nadal, Grigor Dimitrov and Kim Clijsters), and a season-ending Masters tournament for the top eight performers in each category. As with professional tennis, an anti-doping program has been introduced in cooperation with the ITF in order to educate players about the dangers of doping, and like their professional counterparts, Tour players use an IPIN (International Player Identification Number) to manage their entries and withdrawals online.

The appeal of the Tennis Europe Junior Tour extends well beyond its home continent, and in 2023 players came from over 110 countries worldwide to participate. Coco Gauff is one non-European to have excelled, reaching #1 in the rankings. Other players such as Alex De Minaur, Qinwen Zheng, Juan Martín Del Potro and Lindsey Davenport also got a first taste of European competition on the tour.

16/14 & Under Tour events are played at three levels, ranging from the elite Super Category and Category 1 events, which attract the strongest draws, to the more numerous and accessible Category 2 and 3 events. Boys and girls events in both singles and doubles events are held at all tournaments, with some offering additional consolation tournaments for early losers. Player parties, cultural exchanges and tourist trips during events encourage all players to focus on more than just their results.

The 12 & Under Tour differs in that no rankings are produced, and there are no Masters or European individual championship events, though the summer team event, the 'Tennis Europe Summer Cups by Dunlop' is now in its second decade and has been universally acclaimed. From 2021, the 12 & Under Festival offers top players from the age group the chance to end the season in style, at an invitational event hosted by the Rafa Nadal Academy.

Team events provide some of the highlights of the Junior Tour, with the Tennis Europe Winter Cups by Dunlop and the Summer Cups providing youngsters with an early opportunity to compete for their countries, whilst the European Junior Championships title is arguably the most treasured prize of all. All three flagship events have an illustrious history, dating back to the founding of Tennis Europe in the mid-1970's. You can download a special commemorative magazine detailing the first 30 Years of the Tennis Europe Junior Tour here.

Over a quarter of a million spectators file through the gates annually to see competitions that are reported in over 780 periodicals worldwide, garnering over 12,000 minutes of TV and radio airtime.

The quality of play on the Tennis Europe Junior Tour is such that a myriad of former world No.1s, including Graf, Seles, Sanchez-Vicario, Henin, Mauresmo, Hingis, Nadal, Murray, Becker, Edberg, Lendl, Moya and Wilander all displayed their talents to an international audience for the first time on the European circuit, proving that the tour really does provide an opportunity to see the stars of tomorrow today.

Contact

The Tennis Europe Juniors Department is available from Monday to Friday from 09:00 - 11:45, 14:00 - 17:00. 

E-mail: juniors@tenniseurope.org