With the season’s latest Grade A event underway on the hard courts of Osaka, opportunity once again knocks for the cream of the junior crop to seize prestige, rankings points and much-coveted silverware.

Grade A tournaments are the highest classification of competition on the junior calendar and, as such, offer sizeable rewards for the victors and those who go deep in the boys’ and girls’ draws.

Excluding Junior Grand Slams which also carry Grade A status and have the grandest of statures, JA Osaka is the fifth Grade A event on the ITF World Tennis Tour Juniors calendar this year.

Similar prestigious events have already taken place this season in Criciuma (BRA), Offenbach (GER), Milan (ITA) and Pretoria (RSA), with two more to come in Merida (MEX) and Plantation (USA).

As with most Grade A events, JA Osaka – also known as the Osaka Mayor’s Cup – has an impressive roll call of past winners which offers inspiration and motivation for those competing this week.

The likes of Casper Ruud, Taylor Fritz, Katerina Siniakova, Kristina Mladenovic, Nick Kyrgios, Caroline Wozniacki, Victoria Azarenka, Marin Cilic, Amelie Mauresmo and Sebastien Grosjean have all topped the singles podium in Osaka.

Class of 2022, over to you.