With the 2020 season now in its tenth week and three ‘Super Category’ events done and dusted, the Race to Monte-Carlo is in full swing.
The Top 8 players will qualify to compete at the season-ending Junior Masters. The 14 & Under Tour has been busy in recent weeks and last week’s event in Stockholm has caused some big jumps in the rankings. The 16 & Under Race is yet to fully kick into gear, with just a handful of events held so far, but we can expect to see big changes in the leader board during March. Let’s take a closer look:
Eyes on the Prize
Having won two of the three Super Category tournaments held so far this year, Martin Landaluce from Spain currently leads the 14 & Under boys’ race by a healthy margin, almost 200 points ahead of the rest of the pack. The next 200 or so points separate the next seven players in the race. In second place is Stockholm runner-up Atakan Karahan (TUR) who has overtaken Les Petits As winner Oleksandr Ponomar (UKR), while others moving into the top eight of the Race this week include Theo Papamalamis (FRA) and Jakub Jedrzejczak (POL).
Big Wins, Big Rewards
In the 14 & Under girls’ Race to Monte-Carlo, Russian Stockholm runner-up Daria Shadchneva overtakes Estonia’s Brit Martin to take pole position. Brenda Fruhvirtova (CZE) moves up eight spots to number six, unbeaten on the Tennis Europe Junior Tour so far this year, having played – and won – two Super Category tournaments. This week’s biggest jump has come from Mariia Masiianskaia, climbing 12 spots thanks to her win at the Category 2 event in Jerusalem last week. She is one of three Russians in the Top 8 (Alina Korneeva is the other at #3), while three Britons are also in contention for Masters places for the first time, with Winter Cups by HEAD bronze medallists Hannah Read, Hephzibah Oluwadare and Mingge Xu all showing good form in recent weeks.
Looking Forward
With three of this year’s five Super Category events now having taken place indoors, look for the Tour’s clay courters to make gains in the coming weeks as tournaments switch surfaces for the summer. This 30th anniversary season of the Tennis Europe Junior Tour sees well over 400 events scheduled, with almost 30 Category 1 events still to come and plenty of points up for grabs! You can keep up with the latest Race to Monte Carlo rankings here each week.
Tennis Europe Junior Masters
The Junior Masters has a new home in Monaco at the Monte-Carlo Country Club. The tournament brings together the Top 8 Tennis Europe Junior Tour boys and girls of the 14 and 16 & Under age groups. Due to be played from 30th October to 1st November, the four eventual winners will also receive a coveted one-week stay at the Mouratoglou Academy.
Here’s a short message from Patrick Mouratoglou: