When leafing through the history of Trofeo Bonfiglio – the J500 tournament held at Tennis Club Milano Alberto Bonacossa – it is difficult to be anything but impressed by the tournament’s grandeur.

Tennis has been enjoyed at Tennis Club Milano Alberto Bonacossa since 1893 and while next week’s focus will be the game’s future, with a host of rising stars competing at J500 Milan, its past is striking in more ways than one.

J500 tournaments provide premier playing opportunities for players on the ITF World Tennis Tour Juniors and offer significant ranking points, prestige and glamour to those who are crowned champions.

In short, they are one rung below Junior Grand Slams and J500 Milan is the fourth of seven such events on the ITF World Tennis Tour Juniors during a packed 2023 calendar.

Those contesting J500 Milan – and there will be a host of top-ranked juniors on show when play gets underway on Monday – are bidding to follow in some lofty footsteps, with the event boasting an awe-inspiring roll call of past winners.

In the last 20 years alone, Stefanos Tsitsipas, Alexei Popyrin, Elena Rybakina, Marketa Vondrousova, Alexander Zverev, Belinda Bencic, Katerina Siniakova, Sloane Stephens and Simona Halep have all triumphed at J500 Milan.

More than that, however, winning silverware at this level of junior competition was an important step on each of their respective tennis journeys as they continued their development and progressed along the player pathway.

Going further back, the likes of Jim Courier, Gabriela Sabatini, Ivan Lendl and Jan Kodes also topped the J500 Milan podium so when making reference to the event’s history, the class of 2023 really are following greatness.

When the players take to Milan’s clay-courts next week, in the boys’ draw there will be five players currently ranked within the Top 10 of the ITF World Tennis Tour Junior Rankings.

Mexico’s Rodrigo Pacheco, Yi Zhou of China, P.R., Serbia’s Branko Djuric, Yaroslav Demin and Bolivia’s Juan Carlos Prado Angelo will all be on show, as will Joao Fonseca, who was part of the Brazil team crowned champions at the 2022 Davis Cup Juniors by Gainbridge Finals.

The girls’ draw is equally impressive with Japan’s Sara Saito and Clervie Ngounoue of the United States – both J500 winners in 2022 at Osaka and Merida respectively, Peru’s Lucciana Perez Alarcon, Mayu Crossley of Japan and Italy’s Federica Urgesi all in action. Crossley and Urgesi have both won J500 events this year at Criciuma and Cairo respectively.

Something else for those on show in Milan to bear in mind, ranking points have added significance this season with the return of the ITF World Tennis Tour Junior Finals in Chengdu, which will take place at the Sichuan International Tennis Center from 16-22 October.

The ITF World Tennis Tour Junior Finals showcase the best junior players on the ITF World Tennis Tour Juniors from the previous 12 months. The Finals will consist of the top eight boys and girls in the ITF World Tennis Tour Junior Finals Qualification Rankings.The Qualification Rankings can be viewed here.