U.S. TEAMS ANNOUNCED FOR WORLD JUNIOR TENNIS COMPETITION

Written by: Staff on 20th April 2012

U.S. TEAMS ANNOUNCED FOR WORLD JUNIOR TENNIS COMPETITION |

The USTA announced today the top American juniors who will represent the United States in the Junior Davis Cup (16-and-under) and Junior Fed Cup (16-and-under) by BNP Paribas and the World Junior Tennis Competition (14-and-under) North/Central American and Caribbean Championships. Each event features a four-team round robin competition April 26-28 in Merida, Mexico. Other nations participating include: Mexico, Canada, Costa Rica, Cuba, Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico.

The top two teams from each division in the North/Central American and Caribbean Championships in Mexico will advance to the 16-nation World Final. The World Junior Tennis World Final will be held August 13-18 in Prostejov, Czech Republic, while the Junior Davis Cup and Junior Fed Cup World Finals will be held September 25-30 in Barcelona, Spain.

Junior Davis Cup		Junior Fed Cup
Jared Donaldson, Cumberland, R.I.		Gabrielle Andrews, Pomona, Calif.
Ernesto Escobedo, West Covina, Calif.		Brooke Austin, Indianapolis
Stefan Kozlov, Pembroke Pines, Fla.		Taylor Townsend, Stockbridge, Ga.
Coach: Nicolas Todero		Coach: Kathy Rinaldi

World Junior Tennis – Boys		World Junior Tennis – Girls
William Blumberg, Greenwich, Conn.		Jada Hart, Colton, Calif.
Michael Mmoh, Temple Hills, Md.		Emma Higuchi, Los Angeles
Frances Tiafoe, College Park, Md.		Raquel Pedraza-Simpson, Claremont, Calif.
Coach: Ricardo Acuna		Coach: Sylvain Guichard

Kozlov and Townsend train full-time at the USTA Training Center Headquarters in Boca Raton, Fla., while Blumberg trains at the USTA Training Center-East in Flushing, N.Y., and all three members of the girls’ World Junior Tennis team train at the USTA Training Center-West in Carson, Calif.

The three members of this year’s Junior Fed Cup team comprised the 2011 Junior Fed Cup team which qualified for the World Final but did not compete due to security concerns, and also made up the 2010 World Junior Tennis girls’ team that won a fourth consecutive title for the U.S.

In 2008, the U.S. became the first country to sweep all four titles in the same year. In addition to 2008, the U.S. boys’ World Junior Tennis team won back-to-back titles in 2002-03, and the Junior Davis Cup team won the title in 1999. The 2008 title was the first for the Junior Fed Cup team.

Former U.S. junior international team members include Jim Courier, Michael Chang, Andy Roddick, James Blake, Christina McHale, Sloane Stephens, Lindsay Davenport, Denis Kudla, Jennifer Capriati, Mardy Fish,Robby Ginepri, and Lisa Raymond.