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| 07 Aug 2005 - Prostejov - James Harrisson | |
| World Junior Tennis Finals - Preview |
The 15th World Junior Tennis Finals will be held this week on the clay courts of TK Prostejov in the Czech Republic.
For the seventh consecutive year the club will host the competition for boys and girls aged 14 & under. 16 boys’ and 16 girls’ teams, from a total of 78 countries, have fought their way through tough regional qualifying competitions for the chance to compete in the finals.
The event begins with a round-robin competition, teams being divided into four groups of four teams. The winner of each group qualifies for the knockout semifinals, while the remaining nations go into play-offs and fight for position. For lower placed teams, these ties are very important, as the team which finishes 16th in each competition will lose a place in the finals for their region in 2006.
This is a six-day event, starting today, with the final to be held on centre court, with its new retractable roof, on Saturday. Last year the boys’ event was won by Great Britain, led by Dan Cox, while Ksenia Milevskaya spearheaded the victorious girl’s team from Belarus. However, neither of these countries have qualified for the 2005 finals, so the field is wide open for new champions to be crowned.
In this year’s boys’ competition, the team from the USA, champions in ‘02 and ‘03 will rate amongst the title favourites. Bulgaria boast the current European Champion, while Czech Republic will be hoping to take advantage of their home advantage.
The home team will also be among the seeds in the girls’ event, with two players inside the European top ten. Russia has two players who have already proved themselves on the ITF 18 & under junior circuit, while USA and China both won their regional qualifying competitions and are seeded 2nd and 3rd respectively.
Past competitors in this competition include Rafael Nadal, Andy Roddick, Kim Clijsters and Amelie Mauresmo. All players this week will be hoping to emulate their sporting heroes and take their first steps along the road to become champions.
Please find the draw and the order of play for Sunday 8 August as PDF attachments below.
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2005 World Junior Tennis Finals - Qualified Nations
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