 Photographer: Susan Mullane
Date: 30 Dec 2003 |  Photographer: Susan Mullane
Date: 03 Jun 2004 |  Photographer: Paul Zimmer
Date: 31 Jan 2004 |  Photographer: Susan Mullane
Date: 30 May 2004 |  Photographer: None / Not Applicable
Date: 04 Jun 2004 |  Photographer: Susan Mullane
Date: 06 Jun 2004 |
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| 25 Jun 2004 - ITF - Neil Robinson | |
| Junior Wimbledon Preview |
France’s Gael Monfils launches the next stage of his attempt to emulate Sweden’s Stefan Edberg and complete the junior Grand Slam when the junior events get underway at Wimbledon on Saturday. He starts as a big favourite, having become the first boy since 1997 to capture the first two legs in Melbourne and Paris.
Monfils’ countryman, Josselin Ouanna, runner-up in Australia, whose injury-hit preparation for Roland Garros saw him lose in the third round there, hopes to perform better at Wimbledon while USA’s Alex Kuznetsov also hopes to translate his impressive form from Paris, where he reached the final, to the grass courts. Kamil Capkovic, of the Slovak Republic and USA’s Brendan Evans also showed that they can rise to the big occasion when reaching the semifinals in Paris with Evans, in particular, likely to threaten the favourites as he has proven grass court form, having reached the quarterfinals last year.
Monfils warmed up in perfect style by capturing the Grade 1 LTA International event at Roehampton last week, where he defeated Britain’s Andrew Murray in the final. This was Murray’s first tournament this year following a knee injury but he showed that he is in a position to challenge for the Junior Wimbledon title, where he will not lack for support in front of a home crowd. The German duo of Sebastian Rieschick and Mihail Zverev were two of the last three players to beat Monfils on the ITF Junior Circuit, but are yet to go beyond the quarterfinals of a junior Grand Slam event.
The girls’ event sees Nicole Vaidisova, of the Czech Republic, Dutch player Michaella Krajicek and Israel’s Shahar Peer, all of whom reached the last sixteen last year, vying for favouritism, while Serbia and Montenegro’s Ana Ivanovic, who has had some recent successes on the ITF women’s circuit, could prove the dark horse on her return to the junior circuit.
Peer beat Vaidisova to win the Australian Junior title in January and reached the quarterfinals in Paris as well as enjoying some success on the professional circuit. Vaidisova has also produced some excellent results at professional level but will have been disappointed to lose in the Roehampton semifinals to Marina Erakovic, of New Zealand. Krajicek reached the quarterfinals of Roland Garros and was victorious at Roehampton, beating Erakovic in the final, to go into Wimbledon in good shape.
The Ukraine’s Kateryna Bondarenko, Romania’s Monica Niculescu and Russia’s Alisa Kleybanova, the Banana Bowl champion, are other players capable of producing an upset and having a say in the final stages of the event. Erakovic can also be added to this list given her form at Roehampton and her victory in the previous week’s grass court event in Halle, Germany.
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