The 47th European 16 & Under Championships kick off on Monday 25th September, featuring a strong field of almost 150 players from 40 Tennis Europe nations.
This year’s event will bring a celebration of junior tennis to the city of Parma, with the early rounds being played across four of the city’s leading tennis clubs. From Friday’s quarterfinals onwards, all the action will be staged at the CT Parma, venue for this week’s WTA Tour event.
The boys’ top seed is Kolos Kincses of Hungary, currently ranked #1 in the Race to Monte-Carlo and #8 overall, having established a 36-9 win/loss record on Tour so far this season. He’ll be challenged by the likes of last year’s Junior Masters runner-up William Rejchtmann Vinciguerra (SWE) and Dema Cup champion Nikita Bilozertsev (UKR).
The girls’ draw is headed by Serbia’s Teodora Kostovic, a winner of 2 ITF World Tennis Tour Juniors 300 titles already this season. Her main challengers include Charo Esquiva Banuls of Spain, who has also won two ITF titles this season and arrives in Parma having just reached the semifinal of her first $25,000 ITF professional event in Vigo, and Julia Stusek of Germany, a 9-times Junior Tour title winner, including Les Petits As in 2022, and another player to have won two 18 & under titles in 2023.
Leading the hopes of the host nation are Andrea de Marchi, member of Italy’s 2023 winning boys’ Summer Cups team and champion of the Cat.1 Tolentino event, and Ilary Pistola, girls’ runner-up at the second-biggest 16 & Under event of the season so far, the Torneo Avvenire in Milan.
Tennis Europe President Ivo Kaderka said, “We are proud to bring Europe’s most prestigious event for players aged 16 & Under back to Italy for the first time since 2006. I’d like to thank the staff and volunteers of our host venues and am especially grateful to the Italian Tennis & Padel Federation for their ongoing commitment to junior tennis. We look forward to seeing a festival of tennis in the city of Parma next week.”
A European Championship title has proven to be a reliable indicator of future greatness: 13 singles and 14 doubles former world #1s feature among the previous winners, with some of the hottest names in professional tennis – including Carlos Alcaraz, Iga Swiatek and Holger Rune - having won titles in recent years.
The boys’ and girls’ singles champions will automatically qualify to compete at the elite season-ending Tennis Europe Junior Masters tournament in Monte-Carlo from 2-5 November.
Draws will be published on Saturday evening. Live scoring and live streaming from three show courts will be available on the Junior Tour app throughout the event, while viewers in Italy can also follow the action from the quarterfinals onwards live on SuperTennis TV.
The application can be downloaded here (Apple devices) and here (Android).