This year’s ITF/Tennis Europe 14 & Under Development Championships have come to another successful conclusion. Players from 10 'Tier 1' developing nations participated in the various events over two weeks at the Club Megasaray, in Antalya, Turkey, which played host for another year.
This year’s big winner was Kerem Genc (TUR) who won the boys’ singles tournament week 1 and then again in week 2 coupled with the doubles trophy. Tea Kovacevic (BIH) and Ayse Bal (TUR) were the week 1 and week 2 girls’ winners.
ITF Development Officer for Europe Vitor Cabral was present all week and noted that “it always very interesting to see the exchange and comradery between teams grow as the days went by and between the players and coaches.” This was clearly on display at the opening ceremony with teams proudly displaying their flags and mingling as well as training with players from other nations throughout the week.
14&U Boys
As mentioned, Genc won both tournaments, mirroring last year’s Championships when another homegrown talent, Kaan Isik Kosaner, scored the double win. In the week 1 final, Genc, the second seed, beat top seeded compatriot Mehmet Toprak Erçin 6-1 6-4 in the final. In the final of the week 2 event, Genc again got the better of Erçin, taking the match 6-0 7-5, and in a further show of domination, the two Turks combined to win the doubles event as well. In week 1, the doubles title went to Marko Aleksovski & Aleksandar Grujic of North Macedonia.
14&U Girls
Bal proved to be a fast learner. While Kovacevic beat her in the week 1 semis before going on to take the title, however in week 2 the roles with reversed, with Bal getting revenge over the Bosnian in the semis before proceeding to take the title.
Kovacevic won the week 1 final 6-1 1-0 (ret) over Sara Mitevska (MKD). In the week 2 final, the North Macedonian was thwarted once more, with Bal taking the decider in a 6-3 1-6 6-2 tussle.
Bal and Kovacevic were on the podium yet again for the doubles. In Week 1 Bal teamed with Ecrin Lal Yavuz for the win, while in week 2 Kovacevic won the trophy with Zana Kunosic.
Other events
- As was the case last year, there was a 12&U training camp run by Cabral in week 1, followed by a tournament for the youngsters in week 2. Honours went to Andrej Temov (MKD) in the boys’ singles and Milena Zanoci (MDA) in the girls’ singles.
- Tennis Europe Development Manager Maciej Szymonski presented a session of the Junior School in the first week, covering various topics including Agents & Sponsorship and Social Media.
Upon the conclusion of the event, Cabral also noted that the 2024 tournaments and training camp were “the smoothest in terms of logistics and organization. It’s a brilliant example of cooperation and experience over the years between ITF and Tennis Europe with the Turkish Tennis Federation and the local organization. I can say that we are all one team in these events. We have seen a lot of good matches during these two weeks.”
Long established as one of Tennis Europe’s flagship development activities, the Championships were devised to provide top-level playing opportunities for the most promising talents from emerging tennis nations in Europe. This year saw participation from players representing Albania, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Georgia, Kosovo, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Moldova, and hosts Türkiye. Former competitors over the years include the likes of Jelena Ostapenko, Simona Halep, Marcos Baghdatis and Grigor Dimitrov.
For full results from the Championships, please click here (Week 1) and here (Week 2). Click here for pictures.