 Photographer: Susan Mullane
Date: 04 Jul 2004 |  Photographer: Susan Mullane
Date: 04 Jul 2004 |  Photographer: Susan Mullane
Date: 04 Jul 2004 |  Photographer: Susan Mullane
Date: 04 Jul 2004 |  Photographer: Susan Mullane
Date: 04 Jul 2004 |  Photographer: Susan Mullane
Date: 04 Jul 2004 |  Photographer: Susan Mullane
Date: 04 Jul 2004 |  Photographer: Susan Mullane
Date: 04 Jul 2004 |
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| 04 Jul 2004 - Wimbledon - Eleanor Preston | |
| Monfils seals grand slam treble |
France’s Gael Monfils became the first boy since Stefan Edberg in 1983 to win three junior grand slam titles in a row by adding Wimbledon to his Australian Open and Roland Garros titles.
Monfils, who beat Britain’s Miles Kasiri 75 76 to win his first Wimbledon trophy, said he was undecided about trying to match Edberg’s feat of winning all four titles in one year – the junior grand slam. “I haven’t made a decision about whether I am going to play the US Open yet, because it’s in September and it’s only July, but it would be cool to win all four.”
Monfils was made to work hard by the determined Briton, who held two set-points at 5-4 in the first set and battled from 2-4 down in the second set to force the French boy to a tiebreaker.
“Before every final you are nervous and at first I felt so nervous that I could not play my game,” said Monfils, “but also Miles played very well.”
Despite having the majority of the pro-Kasiri crowd against him, Monfils was buoyed by a loud band of French supporters who serenaded him with a chorus of the French national anthem after he had taken his second Championship point.
“It was good to have them there and I thank them for their help,” said Monfils, who joined in the fun by conducting his impromptu choir.
Monfils’ win marked a disappointing end to a highly successful week for Kasiri, who was unseeded. “I'm obviously disappointed that I lost because I know that I had a lot of chances in the first set and in the second set I was up in the tiebreak,” he said. “It was so close. There's like one or two points, that would have made the whole difference of the match. I could have won the match 7?5, 7?6, instead of him, if I would have won only two extra points. That gives me confidence because he hasn't lost a match this year and he's won all three Grand Slams so far, so he's obviously a very good player. I know if I was to play him again, I would go on court believing I could win.”
Kasiri will play in senior Challenger events in Nottingham and Manchester over the next fortnight and after shrugging off defeat to Monfils he was already looking to the future.
“I know a lot of people who have dominated the juniors have come to win the pros,” he said. “Roger Federer won the juniors a few years ago and he's already won the pros pretty quickly. That gives me confidence that maybe I'm on the right track.”
In the girls’ final, Katerina Bondarenko was too strong for Serbia & Montenegro’s Ana Ivanovic, beating her 64 67 62 to win her first junior grand slam title.
“I’m very happy,” said the 17-year old from the Ukraine. “I couldn’t imagine I could win. I was just going step by step and match by match. I just went on the court with a good attitude and was trying to play every ball in. I was a little bit nervous, but the most difficult match was the semifinal because we were four times off the court because of the rain. That win gave me confidence for today.”
Bondarenko, who is a member of the ITF Development Touring Team was joined on the honour roll by her team mates, Viktoria Azarenka and Volha Havartsova from Belarus. The Belarussian team defeated New Zealand’s Marina Erakovic and Romania’s Monica Niculescu 64 36 64 to become Girls’ Doubles Champions.
Brendan Evans and Scott Oudsema added the Wimbledon boys’ doubles title to the Australian Open title they won earlier in the year. The Americans defeated Robin Haase from the Netherlands and Serbia & Montenegro’s Viktor Troicki in straight sets 64 64.
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