Draw made for 2021 Junior Championships, Wimbledon
France’s Luca van Assche will begin his campaign at the Junior Championships with a showdown with Max Hans Rehberg of Germany as he goes in search of a Roland Garros-Wimbledon double.
In the absence of Czech Linda Noskova, Van Assche is the sole competitor in either draw with a Junior Grand Slam singles triumph to their name this season, having conquered all before him at the Roland Garros Junior Championships last month.
Wimbledon debutant Van Assche, who is seeded No. 2 here, is bidding to follow in the footsteps of Tseng Chun-Hsin of Chinese Taipei and, before him, Gael Monfils back in 2004 and claim back-to-back Junior Grand Slam crowns in Paris and London.
Top seed in the boys’ draw, meanwhile, is Juncheng Shang of China, who has been drawn against Russian qualifier Igor Kudriashov, with his counterpart in the girls’ draw, Victoria Jimenez Kasintseva, up against Italy’s Beatrice Ricci in round one.
Left-hander Jimenez Kasintseva is the top-ranked girl on the planet currently and has a Junior Grand Slam singles title etched on her CV after topping the podium at the 2020 Australian Open aged just 14.
She will be looking to reassert her authority in the coming week, as will No. 2 seed Alexandra Eala of the Philippines following her first-round exit in the French capital. Eala will do battle against Solana Sierra of Argentina for a place in round two.
Elsewhere in the girls’ draw, there is a strong Russian contingent among the top seeds with Diana Shnaider and Polina Kudermetova eyeing success. Shnaider faces Ashlyn Krueger of the United States in round one, while Kudermetova is up against wild card Mingge Xu.
No. 5 seed Oceane Babel, another left-hander, has been drawn against Radka Zelnickova of Slovakia, while Kristina Dmitruk of Belarus will go head-to-head with Russia's Polina Iatcenko for a place in round two.
In the boys’ draw, No. 3 seed Arthur Fils, one quarter of an all-French semi-final at Roland Garros last month, will be looking to go one step further here after missing out to Van Assche in the title-decider on the clay of Paris.
The 17-year-old begins his quest for glory against Japan’s Kokoro Isomura, while Bruno Kuzuhara, another name tipped to do well on the Wimbledon grass, faces wild card William Jansen of Great Britain.
Brazil’s Pedro Boscardin Dias, who is seeded fifth here faces qualifier Billy Blaydes of Great Britain, while Daniel Rincon of Spain is preparing for a showdown with Roan Jones, another British wild card.
The top-ranked home favourite is chess fan Jack Pinnington Jones, who is seeded No. 7 and he faces Aleksander Orlikowski of Poland, while Leo Borg – always a surname with which to conjure in these parts – faces Marko Topo of Serbia.
Borg, of course, returns to the scene of his father’s domination in the late 1970s and early 1980s – Bjorn won five consecutive Wimbledon titles between 1976 and 1980, but also the junior crown in 1972 – with an objective to pen his own script.
Further information on the Junior Championships, Wimbledon which get underway on Monday, including the full draws for the boys’ and girls’ tournaments, can be viewed here.