For the first time in nearly three decades there is no Osaka Mayor’s Cup – one of the ITF’s principal Grade A junior events – in 2020 due to the Covid-19 pandemic, but the memories of tournaments past remain as powerful as ever.

The photographs from down the years make for fascinating viewing as some of the true heavyweights of the sport have either continued their junior-level development at the Utsubo Tennis Centre or made significant silverware-clinching strides.

Five players – Victoria Azarenka, Marin Cilic, Amelie Mauresmo, Andy Roddick and Caroline Wozniacki – have triumphed on the hard courts of Osaka and proceeded to be crowned a Grand Slam singles champion.

In total, across singles, doubles and mixed doubles, a whopping 43 Grand Slam titles have been won by players who have competed at JA Osaka, which was first contested in 1993. A flick through the history books offers more than a little intrigue.

Take 2005, for instance – a vintage year if ever there was one, with Cilic and Azarenka, who were aged just 17 and 16 respectively at the time, the boys’ and girls’ winners.

Croatia’s Cilic defeated Jeremy Chardy in the final but teamed up with the Frenchman as he also topped the doubles podium, while Azarenka of Belarus overcame home favourite Ayumi Morita.

Cilic and Azarenka had shown considerable junior pedigree – both were Junior Grand Slam champions in 2005 – but it is perhaps easy to look at their trophy haul and list of accomplishments since and think they were destined for the big stage.

As with any aspiring player who has shown promise, there are no still no guarantees of glory in the professional ranks, although winning a top-level junior tournament such as Osaka might be considered a significant staging post on that journey.

Rewind 15 years and, for Cilic and Azarenka, winning a tournament like JA Osaka was an important statement. Victory for Cilic saw him tighten the rankings as he battled with American Donald Young for the year-end No. 1 spot – another important milestone at the time.

Equally, players do no just appear by magic and the seeds of their future joy are often rooted within junior tennis. Kristina Mladenovic and Timea Babos, for instance, won their fourth Grand Slam doubles title as a pairing at Roland Garros earlier this month.

The 2008 edition of the Osaka Mayor’s Cup was the first time the duo had formally played together at junior level and they duly signalled their intentions by dispatching all before them and beating Japan’s Miyabi Inoue and Aki Yamasoto in the final.

Mladenovic and Babos reunited a year later to once again seal the doubles crown, while the former overcame the latter in the singles to considerably boost her trophy haul as she was named girls’ ITF World Champion for 2009.

Wozniacki, meanwhile, who won the Australia Open in 2018, was a two-time Osaka champion, triumphing in 2004 and 2006, while in 1996 Mauresmo was the first non-Asian girl to top the podium. It was a French double that year as Sebastien Grosjean was boys’ champion.

Roddick is another stellar name to have written himself into the history of the competition after teaming up with Canada's Philip Gubenco to defy Great Britain's Nick Greenhouse and James Nelson in the 1999 doubles final. 

In addition, Katarina Srebotnik, Andrea Hlavackova, Katerina Siniakova, Pierre-Hugues Herbert, Mate Pavic, Hsieh Su-wei and Ryan Harrison were all winners in Osaka as a prelude to Grand Slam – whether doubles or mixed doubles – success.

In the last few years alone, the roll call of Osaka winners has been noteworthy. Australia’s Nick Kyrgios was the talk of the town in 2012, while Taylor Fritz and Casper Ruud triumphed in 2014 and 2015 respectively and are both now ranked within the world’s Top 30.

Two of 2019 winners, Harold Mayot and Dominic Stricker, have already built on their promise by winning a Junior Grand Slam in 2020, while in normal circumstances Sunday would have provided the stage for other reputations to be either made or enhanced.

Sadly, that is not possible this year but the Osaka Mayor’s Cup is clearly a tournament with considerable relevance, with a trip down memory lane both engrossing and perhaps a clue as to those who might prove themselves future headline acts.