By Sally Milano
Eight of the top junior players in the country will be in Europe over the next few weeks to compete in the most prestigious 14-and-under tournaments in the world – Junior International Teen Tennis, which will take place Jan. 15-21 in Bolton, England, and Les Petits As, which will be held Jan. 22-28 in Tarbes, France.
Thirteen-year-olds Jonah Braswell of Sarasota, Fla., John Kim of Sunnyvale, Calif., and Victor Lilov of Raleigh, N.C., and 14-year-old Evan Wen of Morristown, N.J., will represent the U.S. on the boys’ team, while 13-year-olds Robin Montgomery (pictured above) of Washington, D.C., Vivian Ovrootsky of San Jose, Calif., Katrina Scott of Woodland Hills, Calif., and Katja Wiersholm of Kirkland, Wash., will play for the country on the girls' team.
USTA National Coaches Jon Glover and Lori Riffice will coach the boys’ and girls’ teams, respectively.
All eight players were selected after finishing in the top four of the Les Petits As USA Playoffs, held in November in Port St. Lucie, Fla.
Americans have had great success at both Junior International Teen Tennis and Les Petits As in recent years. Last year, both boys’ and girls’ singles finalists at Teen Tennis, including champions Coco Gauff and Toby Kodat, and seven of the eight overall semifinalists were from the U.S., marking the first time in the event’s 23-year history that players from the same country achieved those milestones. The U.S. has also had four Les Petits As singles champions in the last seven years, including Frances Tiafoe in 2012 and CiCi Bellis in 2013.
Some of the biggest stars in the game competed in the tournaments when they were juniors. Andy Murray, Kim Clijsters, Justine Henin and Caroline Wozniacki are among the previous finalists in Bolton, while Rafael Nadal, Clijsters and Martina Hingis are all former Les Petits As champions who went on to become No. 1 in the world.
Past American winners at Les Petits As include Michael Chang, Donald Young and Bethanie Mattek-Sands. Lindsay Davenport was a finalist, and 2017 US Open champion Sloane Stephens and finalist Madison Keys both participated in the tournaments.