Who is leading the race to qualify for the 2025 ITF Junior Finals?
Newly-crowned Roland Garros champion Lilli Tagger of Austria and Spain’s Andres Santamarta Roig are leading the race to qualify for the 2025 ITF World Tennis Tour Junior Finals in Chengdu, China.
The ITF World Tennis Tour Junior Finals are a prestigious showpiece event – the junior equivalent of the ATP and WTA Finals – which see 16 of the world’s top junior players compete.
The top eight boys and top eight girls in the ITF World Tennis Tour Junior Finals Qualification Rankings are in contention to qualify for the ITF Junior Finals which from this year will offer the same number of ranking points as Junior Grand Slams.
The back catalogue of players to have competed at the ITF Junior Finals is highly impressive and reflects the significance of the tournament in respect of an individual’s development and its role within the ITF player pathway.
Grand Slam champions Marketa Vondrousova, Elena Rybakina, Sofia Kenin and Jelena Ostapenko have all competed in Chengdu, as have the likes of Casper Ruud, Holger Rune, Andrey Rublev, Taylor Fritz, Leylah Fernandez, Lorenzo Musetti, Marta Kostyuk, Sebastian Baez and Camila Osorio.
The 2025 event will take place from 22-26 October and will again feature the best players in the 18-and-under age category from the past 12 months on the ITF World Tennis Tour Juniors (the qualification period runs from post-US Open 2024, up to and including US Open 2025).
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In terms of who is on course to reach the Finals, Tagger is the current frontrunner within the girls’ rankings following her historic triumph at Roland Garros. The 17-year-old is the first Austrian to win a Junior Grand Slam singles title in Paris.
After that comes Great Britain’s Hannah Klugman, who Tagger defeated in the Roland Garros final, Emerson Jones of Australia and American Kristina Penickova. Junior world No. 1 Jones was the 2024 ITF Junior Finals girls’ champion, while Penickova also competed at the 2024 edition.
The current top eight is completed by Serbia’s Luna Vujovic, Julieta Pareja of the United States and the Kovackova sisters, Jana and Alena, of Czechia.
The boys’ race, meanwhile, is led by Santamarta Roig, who has won three J500 titles – events that are a rung below Junior Grand Slams – since December. Two of those have been this season at J500 Gaspar and J500 Offenbach.
After Santamarta Roig come Italy’s Jacopo Vasami, who conquered all before him at J500 Milan last month, 2025 Australian Open boys’ champion Henry Bernet of Switzerland and Germany’s Niels McDonald.
McDonald became the third German player to win the Roland Garros boys’ singles title and first since Daniel Elsner in 1997 when he emerged victorious from an all-German final with Max Schoenhaus on Saturday.
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The top eight is completed by American duo Benjamin Willwerth and Jack Kennedy, Bulgaria’s Ivan Ivanov and Oskari Paldanius of Finland. Paldanius won the boys’ doubles at Roland Garros alongside Poland’s Alan Wazny.
However, there is still plenty of time for players to force their way into the ITF Junior Finals reckoning and a big opportunity awaits those currently outside the top eight at next month’s Junior Championships, Wimbledon.
It is worth noting that if no Chinese player finishes in the top eight of the rankings, the final place in each draw will be reserved for any Chinese player that finishes in the Top 25.
If no Chinese player finishes in the Top 25, eighth place will revert to the qualification rankings list. Provided they are ranked within the Top 75, there will also be a Chinese alternate, who will be present in case of illness or injury but will also gain invaluable experience training and hitting with high-ranked peers
The winners of the ITF Junior Finals will both earn 1000 ranking points, which will boost their quest to finish the season as the year-end junior world No. 1. Players will also benefit from travel grants to support their future progression to professional tennis.
This year there will be record travel grants, exceeding $220,000 USD, on offer. The 2025 winner in both the boys’ and girls’ events will receive up to $23,000 USD, with travel grants staggered at every level through to those in eighth position.