Sunday, 24 June, 2007
The tennis public last year marvelled at the achievements of Wimbledon Champions Roger Federer and Amelie Mauresmo.Yet how many people will know that both are former junior champions? Federer won in 1998 and Mauresmo achieved her success in 1996. Can another outstanding star emerge from this year’s pack of juniors to enthral and entertain us in a similar fashion? The most recent to do so, of course, is Maria Sharapova, Wimbledon champion of 2004, who just 24 months earlier, lost in the girls’ junior final. Currently, the outstanding juniors are European, with a few emerging from the Far East, amongst them a youngster from Japan, Ayumi Morita, ranked 9 on the junior ITF listings. She has taken to the grass surface like a duck to water, losing in the final at Surbiton. She has also qualified for the main draw at The Championships, defeating former Wimbledon quarter-finalist Paola Suarez on the way. Morita was first noticed last year when she made the quarter-finals of the Junior Championships, only to lose to the eventual champion, Caroline Wozniack from Denmark. The gritty determination that is a requisite for success, a feature synonymous with Sharapova, is also being shown by one of her younger compatriots, the current top junior, Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova. She is a two-times winner of the Australian Open, has won the US Open and has been a finalist and semi-finalist at Roland Garros. The 15-year-old also reached the third round of the main draw at Melbourne. Coached by her brother Sasha, she is proving to be a good prospect. Switching surfaces is never easy. The rebound surface of Melbourne, the clay of France and the grass of Wimbledon provide very different problems which home players can usually take advantage of. Alize Cornet did so at Roland Garros to emerge as champion, where another youngster, Ksenia Milevskaya of Belarus, also shone to make the semis. “I started last year at 50 and finished at number three,” the 16-year-old Milevskaya said earlier in the year. “But I have never done anything good in grand slams and I really want to now.” It would seem she is starting to realise her ambitions. Earlier in the year, Brydan Klein of Australia captured his national junior title to underline many people's belief that he is marked for success. His arrival was, in some ways, achieved with a bang, when, unseeded, he defeated the second seed to win the opening grand slam of the season. The young western Australian is now rated at No 6 on the ITF junior listings, which also features two other Australians, John-Patrick Smith (8) and Greg Jones (9). The latter reached the final in Paris where he lost to Vladimir Ignatic of Belarus. Traditionally, the Aussies do well in SW19 but it will depend on their adaptability to grass court match-play. It will be interesting to see how they fare and develop, especially Klein whose idol was Pat Rafter, twice a Wimbledon finalist and a grass court specialist. Italy’s Matteo Trevisan is currently the top junior boy. Despite losing in the opening round at Melbourne, he has collected 30 wins on the junior circuit, which includes a semi-final appearance in Paris. Jonathan Eysseric of France, the Melbourne junior boys’ finalist, is a close rival, as is Slovakia’s Martin Klizan. Eysseric has concentrated on the senior circuit and only played the juniors at both this year’s grand slams. Klizan also has not played a juniors' event since Melbourne but has posted 11 wins to eight losses, mainly on the Futures circuit. At the time of writing, the entry list for this year’s junior championships is not finalised, but it will feature the best youngsters and inevitably will contain some of the next generation of stars. Junior Entry List Written by Henry Wancke
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