Preview: 2024 Junior Championships, Wimbledon | ITF (2024)

The Championships at Wimbledon are underway, and the world’s finest junior players will have their moment under the SW19 spotlight when the Junior Championships begin on Saturday 6 July.

As it is for their professional equivalents, Wimbledon is the third Grand Slam of the season and offers the opportunity for aspiring junior players to enhance their reputations, lift silverware and scoop a sizeable haul of ranking points.

There is still plenty of mileage in the races to finish 2024 as the planet’s year-end No. 1 juniors, but safe to say the ITF World Tennis Tour junior rankings will firmly take shape after Wimbledon.

Before Wimbledon, J300 Roehampton – the traditional warm-up event to the Junior Championships – will be taking place (it started on Sunday 30 June), with silverware and ranking points up for grabs there also.

J300 Roehampton also offers exposure to and valuable practice on grass, with some junior players unlikely to have played a competitive match or had much experience of the green stuff previously.

It is also worth noting that seven of the last 11 girls to triumph at J300 Roehampton have proceeded to conquer all before them at Wimbledon. Liv Hovde of the United States was the last to do so in 2022.

When Wimbledon rolls around, there is a stellar cast list in the girls’ draw, led by Slovakia’s Renata Jamrichova – the world’s No. 1-ranked girl and a player with past Junior Grand Slam-winning experience after triumphing at the Australian Open in January.

Left-hander Jamrichova, who featured in the second edition of the ITF’sDay in the LifeYouTube series, has won two ITF World Tennis Tour Women’s events in 2024 – W15 Sharm El-Sheikh and W15 Telde.

The 17-year-old also starred for Slovakia in their 4-0 victory over Slovenia in April's Billie Jean King Cup by Gainbridge Qualifiers, winning her nation’s third match and contributing to their qualification to the 2024 Finals.

She is not alone in showcasing her talent in a professional environment. Czechia’s Laura Samson, who featured for Czechia as they finished runners-up at the 2023 Billie Jean King Cup Juniors by Gainbridge Finals, has also done so.

Samson, who was part of the Czechia team crowned 2022 ITF World Junior Tennis champions, has won three ITF World Tennis Tour Women’s titles – at W15 Monastir, W15 Kranjska Gora and W15 Bol – in 2024.

It has been an extremely progressive campaign for Samson, who is ranked No. 2 in the ITF World Tennis Tour girls' rankings and finished runner-up to fellow Czech Tereza Valentova at the Roland Garros Junior Championships

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Australia’s Emerson Jones, meanwhile, will have a point to prove having crashed out of the Roland Garros Junior Championships in the first round despite triumphing at J500 Milan the week before. Her victory in Milan ensured the 15-year-old became the youngest player in history to win multiple J500 titles.

The girls’ draw is jampacked with talented individuals. Tyra Caterina Grant of the United States, for instance, is a two-time Junior Grand Slam doubles champion, just like Jamrichova.

The likes of Great British duo Hannah Klugman and Mingge Xu, American pair Iva Jovic and Kristina Penickova and Alena Kovackova of Czechia are just a few other names with title-winning potential – but there are many others.

In the boys’ draw, left-handed Californian Kaylan Bigun arrives in London as the world's No. 1-ranked boy after enjoying a stellar time on clay, winning J500 Milan and then the Roland Garros Junior Championships.

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Norway’s Nicolai Budkov Kjaer is another to have enjoyed an impressive 2024 and will no doubt have designs on lifting a maiden Junior Grand Slam singles title. He did win the doubles alongside Joel Schwaerzler at the Roland Garros Junior Championships.

Until Roland Garros, Kjaer had contested five junior events this year and reached at least the semi-finals on each occasion. He has also topped the podium at two ITF World Tennis Tour events – at M15 Antalya.

The likes of Romania’s Luca Preda, Federico Cina of Italy, Poland’s Tomasz Berkieta and Jan ku*mstat of Czechia will also have eyes of the main prize, while Americans Max Exsted and Cooper Woestendick won the Australian Open boys’ doubles in January.

Twelve months ago, Henry Searle ended Great Britain’s 61-year wait for a boys’ champion at Wimbledon. Home hopes this year will lie with the likes of Oliver Bonding, Viktor Frydrych, Charlie Robertson and Benjamin Gusic Wan.

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As always, the Grand Slam Player Development Programme/ITF Touring Team will be represented and will be in the mix for SW19 honours.

It is worth noting also that all ranking points won at Wimbledon will count towards qualification for the ITF World Tennis Tour Junior Finals, which will be held in Chengdu from 16-20 October.

The Finals will consist of the top eight boys and girls in the ITF World Tennis Tour Junior Finals Qualification Rankings. The Qualification Rankings can be viewedhere.