Article 31 Jan 2023

Maximilian Taucher, Maylee Phelps secure Junior Masters title double

Marshall Thomas

31 Jan 2023

Fifteen-year-old Maximilian Taucher and 16-year-old Maylee Phelps added their names to illustrious Cruyff Foundation Junior Masters rolls of honour over the weekend after both players completed the event as singles and doubles champions in Tarbes, France.

The Cruyff Foundation Junior Masters, the premier annual international junior wheelchair tennis tournament for players aged 18 and under, takes place alongside the final four days of the prestigious Les Petits As Tennis Europe tournament for able-bodied juniors aged under 14 and under.

Taucher moves up to No.2 in this week’s Cruyff Foundation junior boys’ rankings after ending January having won the first two junior tournaments of the year.

The Austrian teenager started 2023 by claiming the boys’ singles at the Open des Hauts-de-France Junior Grade A tournament two weeks into the new season.

His latest success saw Taucher survive two three-set matches, against Briton Joshua Johns and USA’s Charlie Cooper, on his way to winning all three of his round-robin group matches in Tarbes.

However, Dutchman Ivar van Rijt, winner of the other boys’ round-robin group, was unable to take Taucher to a deciding set as the top seed booked his place in the final with a 6-1 6-3 win.

Both boys’ finalists came from the same round-robin group, Johns racing past Australia’s Ben Wenzel 6-0, 6-0 in his semi-final. However, with Taucher having held on to beat Johns 6-4 2-6 7-5 in the round-robin phase of the event, he built on a 3-1 second set lead to finish the title decider in straight sets, 7-5 7-5.

𝙈𝙖𝙭𝙞𝙢𝙞𝙡𝙞𝙖𝙣 𝙏𝙖𝙪𝙘𝙝𝙚𝙧 & 𝙈𝙖𝙮𝙡𝙚𝙚 𝙋𝙝𝙚𝙡𝙥𝙨

Congratulations 👏 to the 2023 ITF Wheelchair Open Champions 🏆 pic.twitter.com/tJNX5IABSO
— Les Petits As - Le Mondial Lacoste (@LesPetitsAs) January 30, 2023

Taucher and Johns went into the singles final having already combined to win the boys’ doubles crown after defeating Argentina’s Gonzalo Enrique Lazarte and Wenzel 6-1 6-0.

With qualification for this year’s Cruyff Foundation Junior Masters based on the Cruyff Foundation Junior Wheelchair Tennis Rankings of 31 October 2022, Phelps faced Belgium’s Luna Gryp, Brazil’s Vitoria Miranda and Turkey’s Zeliha Aksak in the girls’ singles draw, which once again started in a round-robin format before the top two players after the round-robin advanced to the women’s singles final.

After ending 2022 at No.3 in the junior girls’ rankings behind 18-year-olds Jade Lanai and Lizzy de Greef, Phelps began 2023 occupying the No.1 spot in the rankings since Lanai and De Greef are now too old to be eligible for junior competition.

Like Taucher in the boys’ singles, Phelps justified top seeding to win the girls’ singles, easing through her three round-robin matches for the loss of just five games. After beating Gryp 6-1 6-1 in their group match, Phelps again wasted little time in the final as she raced to a 6-0 6-1 victory, dropping just the opening game of the second set.

Phelps went into the final day of competition having already won the girls’ doubles, partnering Miranda to beat Akzak and Gryp 6-1 6-0. After completing the Junior Masters as a two-time champion, Phelps said:

“Thank you to the Cruyff Foundation for supporting wheelchair tennis. I had a fun and wonderful week getting to know the other wheelchair tennis players and participating in my first Junior Masters. I’m happy that I have won the singles and doubles titles and I hope to be back next year.”

Junior Masters the foundation for future stars

Former Les Petits As players who have graduated to the top of the sport at senior level include Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal, Belinda Bencic and Martina Hingis.

Meanwhile, Diede de Groot, Yui Kamiji, Tokito Oda, Alfie Hewett and Niels Vink are among those players who contested this year’s Australian Open wheelchair event having previously been crowned champions at the Cruyff Foundation Junior Masters.

Since the Johan Cruyff Foundation became a partner of the ITF Junior Wheelchair Tennis Programme in 2004, the wheelchair tennis tournament in Tarbes has been known as the Cruyff Foundation Junior Masters.

Junior Masters players and coaches honour Shingo Kunieda

With Shingo Kunieda announcing his retiremement shortly before the 2023 Cruyff Foundation Junior Masters, the players and coaches gathered in Tarbes wanted to pay tribute to Kunieda.

Read more articles about Maximilian Taucher Read more articles about Maylee Phelps

Sign Up

Maximilian Taucher, Maylee Phelps secure Junior Masters title double

Junior Masters the foundation for future stars

Junior Masters players and coaches honour Shingo Kunieda