The fourth and final Grand Slam of the 2025 season is underway at the US Open and from Sunday the Junior Championships, featuring the stars of tomorrow, share the spotlight. 

For some players, the 2025 US Open Junior Championships present the last opportunity for a Grand Slam trophy this season, while for others it is the final chance of their career to claim a Junior Grand Slam title. 

Those who have turned 18 this year will no longer be eligible to play junior tennis in 2026, while others may simply choose to prioritise professional events. Either way, it will be fascinating to observe their careers as they progress along the player pathway. 

Focusing on the here and now, victory at a Grand Slam, or indeed a run to the latter stages, will provide a significant boost – in terms of rankings points – in the race to finish the season as the year-end No. 1. 

There are still three J500 tournaments – events that are one rung below Grand Slams in terms of ranking points on offer – to come this year so there is plenty of mileage left in those particular races. That said, 8 September is the ranking cut-off for the ITF World Tennis Tour Junior Finals in Chengdu. 

The ITF Junior Finals, which will take place from 22-26 October, are the junior equivalent of the ATP and WTA Finals and will see eight of the best boys and girls do battle for silverware and ranking points. 

The current top eight players in the ITF World Tennis Tour Junior Finals Qualification Rankings can be viewed here – but this could all change depending on results in New York. 

Turning to the players set to be on show at the US Open Junior Championships, the boys’ draw with feature two of this year’s three Junior Grand Slam singles champions in Germany’s Niels McDonald and Ivan Ivanov of Bulgaria.

Ivanov is the No. 1 boy on the planet after conquering all before him at Wimbledon in July and he is bidding to become the first junior to win the singles titles at Wimbledon and the US Open in the same season since Canada’s Filip Peliwo in 2012.

He would also be the first boy to win two Grand Slam singles titles in the same year since Tseng Chun-Hsin in 2018, while the same applies to McDonald who lifted silverware at Roland Garros in June.

The talent pool does not stop there, however. Spain’s Andres Santamarta Roig is a hugely talented player with three J500 titles to his name.

Santamarta Roig has focussed a lot on professional events, mainly on the ITF World Tennis Tour, in 2025 with the 18-year-old reaching the semi-finals at M25 Tarragona in March. Junior Grand Slam success, however, clearly remains an attractive proposition.

Benjamin Willwerth of the United States, Germany’s Max Schoenhaus and Jan Kumstat of Czechia, meanwhile, have all tasted defeat in Junior Grand Slam singles finals and will be eager to go one step further this time around.

The likes of Bulgaria’s Alexander Vasilev, Oskari Paldanius of Finland and Yannick Theodor Alexandrescou – the recent champion of J300 College Park, the traditional junior warm-up event for the US Open – will all have eyes on the big prize.

The girls’ draw, meanwhile, will feature only one of this season’s Junior Grand Slam singles champions in the form of Slovakia’s Mia Pohankova, who lifted the girls’ title at Wimbledon in July.

The 16-year-old defeated Julieta Pareja of the United States in the final, although the American arrives at her home Slam as the No. 1-ranked girl on the planet after surging to the top of the ITF World Tennis Tour girls’ rankings.

While 2025 Australian Open champion Wakana Sonobe and Roland Garros winner Lilli Tagger will not feature in New York, Great Britain’s Mika Stojsavljevic returns as defending champion.

Stojsavljevic was crowned US Open girls’ champion 12 months ago, while not since 1974, when American Billy Martin achieved the feat, has a junior player – boy or girl – claimed back-to-back Junior Grand Slam titles at the US Open.

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Fellow Briton Hannah Klugman, Kristina Penickova of the United States, Czechia’s Jana Kovackova and Julia Stusek of Germany will be among those eyeing silverware, as will France’s Ksenia Efremova.

Efremova is still only 16 years old but has three professional titles – all won on the ITF World Tennis Tour – to her name. The teenager has split her time between pro and junior events this term and a Junior Grand Slam title would be a huge feather in her cap.

As always, the ITF-operated Grand Slam Player Development Programme Touring Team will be represented at the US Open Junior Championships. Paldanius and Alexandrescou have already been mentioned and there are others primed to make a big impact.

The US Open rarely fails to deliver. Another fantastic Junior Championships await.

Further information on the 2025 US Open Junior Championships, including the full entry list, can be accessed here.