Last week’s 14&U Summer Cups finals kicked off a busy summer on the Tennis Europe Junior Tour. This week, the calendar remained packed with events in London (Wimbledon Juniors and 14&U invitational), a 14&U Category 1 event in the Olympic city, Paris, in addition to events in 10 other cities across Europe. Here’s a review of this week’s main news...
London | The Championships, Wimbledon 14&U Invitational
Junior Tour and Race #1 Jana Kovackova has added another trophy to her impressive collection by winning this event, now in its third year. The Czech came through the round-robin stage along with fellow Europeans Megan Knight (GBR), grasscourt champ at the Junior Tour's qualifying event for this prestitigous competition. held in Raynes Park last month, and Keisija Berzina (LAT). Kovackova saw off the Brit in the semifinal, with just two points the difference between the pair in the match tiebreak. In another tight match, the Czech came from behind to outdo Berzina 5-7 6-3 10-2 in the final.
Stan Put (NED) was the only European face in the boys’ semifinals, falling to eventual champion Takahiro Kawaguchi (JPN). Other familiar British names on the #TEJT Niall Pickerd-Barua, Scott Watson and Eric Lorimer were not able to progress past the round robin stage, but were able to enjoy the experience nonetheless.Kawaguchi's final oppoment was Jordan Lee (USA), as seen in our feature photo (above).
Juniors
The 2022 Junior Masters champion Nicolai Budkov-Kjaer (NOR) was crowned boys’ champion. He defeated Mees Rottgering (NED), winner of seven TEJT titles, 6-3 6-3 in the final. In doing do, Budkov-Kjaer notably became the first Norwegian player ever to reach a Wimbledon semi-final. Other notable European results were quarterfinal appearances of Rafael Jodar (ESP) and Maxim Mrva (CZE), European 14&U champion in 2021.
Slovak Renata Jamrichova adds a second junior Slam title to her 2024 AO win by defeating Australian Emerson Jones 6-3 6-4 in the final. Czech Vendula Valdmannova was a semifinalist, while other Europeans who posted promising results by reaching the quarters were Monika Stankiewicz (POL), Rositsa Dencheva (BUL), Teodora Kostovic (SRB) and 2023 16&U European Junior Championships gold medalist and Junior Masters champion Jeline Vandromme (BEL).
Professional Events
Europeans also dominated the podia of the five main pro events, with winners in all disciplines:
- Barbora Krejcikova won a second major, defeating Jasmine Paolini (ITA) in the women’s final. Paolini was a recent finalist at Roland Garros, the site of Krejcikova’s first major win. The Czech added the singles win to her two previous doubles victories in SW19 with a 6-2 2-6 6-4 win.
- Carlos Alcaraz let three 3 match points slip at 5-4 in tense third set before composing himself to take the tiebreak and score a straight-sets win over ten-time finalist and seven-time champion Novak Djokovic. The Spaniard won his fourth major and second Wimbledon title with a 6-2 6-2 7-6(4) victory.
- Katerina Siniakova won a third Wimbledon doubles title. She picked up her first pair of wins with Krejcikova and this year the fifth-ranked doubles player teamed with new mum Taylor Townsend (USA) to win the title.
- The Finnish-British pairing of Harri Heliovaara & Henry Patten won the men’s doubles title, with both players claiming a maiden slam title
- The Mixed-Doubles title went to Jan Zielinski of Poland who partnered Su-Wei Hsieh (TPE).
Paris | Open Stade Français | 14&U Cat.1
Another successful event for this TEJT staple kicked off with warm video messages on Instagram from Justine Henin as well as last year’s boys’ champion Daniel Jade.
After another session of the Tennis Europe Junior School was followed by a week of intense tennis, Benoit Geldof (FRA) won his first TEJT title by defeating compatriot Luca Iliescu 6-4 3-6 6-4 in the final. The French player claimed the scalp of top seed Andrei Radu in the quarterfinal, while the wildcard entrant Iliescu also upset a seed en route to the final, Ireland’s Patrick Breen, #4).
The top girls’ seed also fell earlier than expected, with Race #4 Laura Chlumska (CZE) also falling in the quarters, while 12&U Festival champ Daniel Baranes (ISR) was a semifinalist. Both players fell to the runner-up Sakino Miyazawa (JPN), who couldn’t withstand the might of Anastasiia Nikolaieva in the final, with the Ukrainian taking the title in a convincing 6-3 6-0 win, for her second title of the year. Photo: (left Sakino Miyawaza, and right Anastasiia Nikolaieva).
Boys’ doubles champions: Samuel Dakessian (FRA) & Mario Vukovic (FRA)
Girls’ doubles champions: Emilie Chen (AUS) & Vesna Marinkov (AUS)
Elsewhere on the Junior Tour this week:
★ 16&U Race to Monte-Carlo #4 Tea Kovacevic (BIH) will see her stock rise after winning a third 16&U tournament in Podgorica. This is in addition to three 14&U singles titles this year in what has been an impressive season indeed.
★ It was a whitewash for home players in Cutea de Arges, Romania, with locals winning all four events. Worth highlighting is Ioana Maria Sandru’s singles win, her second title of the year.
★ The allure of the TEJT was highlighted again this week with many players from afar visiting Europe, making inroads and posting various podium finishes. Canadians Damian Smith and Joni Colburne won the boys’ and girls’ 12&U event in Forli (ITA). The Australian contingent at the combined 12/14&U Fürstenfeld (AUT) event walked away with a total of 2 singles runner-up finishes as well as a doubles title, while their antipodean neighbours from New Zealand posted wins in both the boys’ and girls’ doubles. As mentioned above, the girls’ doubles champs in Paris also hail from Down Under and in addition to a strong Japanese showing in Paris, Kazakh players Linara Bulesheva & Medina Otepbergen were 14&U doubles runners-up in Fürstenfeld:
There is plenty of action to come in the following weeks. Ancient Olympia (GRE) will be host to a 14&U Cat.3 event at starting today (Monday); a 14&U Cat.1 in picturesque Annecy, nestled in the French Alps also gets underway today. Another highlight is the 16&U Summer Cups Zone B qualifying which will take place in conjunction with the ATP 500 event in Hamburg. Stay tuned for more updates from these events.
To see all this week’s winners go to: https://www.tenniseurope.org/page/35674/Tennis-Europe-Junior-Tour-Winners