 Photographer: Paul Zimmer
Date: 29 Jul 2004 |  Photographer: Paul Zimmer
Date: 28 Jul 2004 | | | | |
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| 28 Jul 2004 - ITF - Neil Robinson | |
| Prostejov Promises Exciting Week |
For the sixth consecutive year, TK Prostejov in the Czech Republic will play host to the World Junior Tennis Finals this week.
Now in its 14th year, the competition for boys and girls aged 14 & under, involving 16 boys and 16 girls teams, is played in four round-robin groups with the group winners qualifying for the knockout semifinals. The remaining nations battle it out in placement ties, these ties having added significance as the team finishing in 16th place will see their region lose one place in the Finals in 2005.
The 32 teams, representing 24 nations have come through tough regional qualifying competitions, involving a total of 81 nations. They play their first matches on Monday, with the final taking place on Saturday 7th. Last year, USA’s Donald Young and Czech Republic’s Nicole Vaidisova led their teams to victory and demonstrated their considerable potential.
The USA has lifted the boys’ title for the past two years and will certainly rate as one of the teams to look out for, Brazil includes three of the top ten boys in the latest COSAT 14 & under rankings, while the French team recently provided both finalists in the European Individual Championships in this age group and Italy also fields two of the top 10 in the current European ranking and both will be contenders, along with Australia.
On the girls’ side the Czech Republic is the defending champion and again have a strong line-up, while neighbours the Slovak Republic, will provide stiff opposition. Argentina has two of the three leading players in this age group in South America in their team, while the USA and Australia cannot be discounted either.
The event has been the first experience of international team competition for established stars such as Lleyton Hewitt, Guillermo Coria, Andy Roddick, Justine Henin-Hardenne, Kim Clijsters and Amelie Mauresmo. The next few days will offer the opportunity for today’s leading 13 and 14-year-olds to show their potential and take their first step towards emulating today’s Davis Cup and Fed Cup heroes.
You can keep in touch with daily results, reports and photos on www.itftennis.com/juniors
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