The Tennis Europe Junior Tour Players of the Year have been revealed. The award is given to three best-performing European players in the 14 and 16 & Under age categories of the Tennis Europe Junior Tour. The #1 player in each group receives a state of the art Polar RS800 CX computerised training wrist watch.
Over the years, the award has proven to be a reliable indicator of future success, with former recipients including many of today’s top players, including stars such as Novak Djokovic, Andy Murray, Marin Cilic, Gael Monfils, Kim Clijsters and Justine Henin. The 2011 Players of the Year are as follows:
Boys 14 & Under
1. Bogdan Borza (ROU)
2. Andrey Rublev (RUS)
3. Nicolae Frunza (ROU)
Bogdan Borza and Nicolae Frunza of Romania made most of the headlines on the Tennis Europe Junior Tour in 2011, spearheading a year of unprecedented success for Romanian boys. The pair met in the European Championships singles final in July (Borza won on that occasion, though Frunza had beaten him earlier in the year in Pecin) and teamed up to claim the doubles title. Earlier that month, they had played a part in Romania’s first ever 14 & Under boys European Summer Cups win. Borza ended the season with five singles titles (including his first 16 & Under title), and Frunza with three.
Second-placed Andrey Rublev of Russia (pictured) established a phenomenal record in big events, winning three Category 1 singles and two Category 1 doubles titles, as well as a first 16 & under title.
Boys 16 & Under
1. Matej Maruscak (SVK)
2. Petros Chrysochos (CYP)
3. Alexander Lebedyn (UKR)
Slovakia’s Matej Maruscak ended the year in some style, establishing a 21-match win streak to capture four successive tournament titles, including the elite Tennis Europe Junior Masters, and is the first Slovak boy in 6 years to be named as a Player of the Year.
Second-placed Petros Chrysochos becomes the first Cypriot player ever to win the accolade, having accumulated four singles and five doubles titles during the season. Third-placed Alexander Lebedyn of Ukraine was almost as prolific, reaching the final of all but one of the individual events he participated in, taking titles in Zabrze, Pecin and Antalya, as well as finishing as runner-up to Maruscak at the Junior Masters.
Girls 14 & Under
1. Anastasiya Rychagova (RUS)
2. Anastasiya Komardina (RUS)
3. Ana Konjuh (CRO)
Russian players Anastasiya Rychagova (pictured) and Anastasiya Komardina enjoyed an incredible win streak as doubles partners early in the year, winning their opening event in Sergiev Posad before scooping back to back Category 1 titles in Bolton and Tarbes. Both players competed on the Russian teams that were victorious in the Tennis Europe Winter Cups by HEAD and Europa Cup summer competitions. In their only 16 & Under event, Komardina beat Rychagova for the title in Brno, where the pair teamed up for yet another doubles title. Both players qualified for the Junior Masters, where Rychagova reached the final to clinch the top spot at season’s end.
European Junior Champion Ana Konjuh (CRO) qualified for the Junior Masters for a second consecutive year, performing so strongly that she qualified in both the 14 and 16 & Under age categories, electing to play in the 16s.
Girls 16 & Under
1. Ioana Loredana Rosca (ROU)
2. Irina Shymanovich (BLR)
3. Ana Konjuh (CRO)
Ioana Rosca began her Tennis Europe Junior Tour season with a 17-match win streak that saw her rack up three titles and qualify for the Junior Masters. She kept alive the streak of Romanian dominance in the 16 & Under girls’ category that has seen the nation claim the end of year #1 player each year since 2008.
Second-placed Irina Shymanovic of Belarus divided her time between the 14 and 16 & under circuits, winning four singles and four doubles titles, including the Category 1 event in Ulm. She ended the year in the Top Five in both age categories.
Rosca’s victor at the Junior Masters, Ana Konjuh, becomes the first player ever to be awarded the Player of the Year title in more than one category in the same year, a fitting tribute to an incredible year in which she recorded a 50-7 win/loss record, winning five singles and three doubles titles, and becoming the first Croatian girl ever to win the European Championships.