Slovak Renata Jamrichova and Italian Federico Cina head their respective fields competing for the Australian Open 2024 junior singles titles following the release of entry lists.
The burgeoning talents bid to emulate the likes of former junior champions Victoria Azarenka, Gael Monfils, Karolina Pliskova, Nick Kyrgios, Marta Kostyuk, Lorenzo Musetti and Sebastian Korda when they hit Melbourne Park from 20-27 January 2024.
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They form part of a talented playing field ready to make their marks in the junior events at Melbourne Park.
We profile some of the names to watch.
Emerson Jones (AUS)
Australia’s brightest current prospect, 15-year-old Jones looks headed for a top-eight seeding in her second Australian Open following a standout season.
The Gold Coast teenager, daughter of 2004 Olympic triathlon silver medallist Loretta Harrop and top former Queensland Australian Football League player Brad Jones, became the youngest Australian girl to win a J500 title – the next rung beneath a junior major – since former world No.1 Ash Barty at Osaka in October.
After Barty and Taylah Preston, Jones is only the third Australian girl to crack the junior top 10, and is coached by David Taylor, renowned former mentor of Sam Stosur and Alicia Molik.
Her brother Hayden will contest the boys’ singles.
Federico Cina (ITA)
Projected to rise to junior world No.2 next month, Cina has tasted success on Australian hard courts already, having triumphed at a J300 event in Traralgon on the eve of his debut at AO 2023.
It set the wheels in motion for the 16-year-old’s ascent this season.
In July, he won his second J300 title for the season, on clay in Poland, before the US hard-court swing in which he beat top seed Yaroslav Demin en route to his first junior Slam semifinal at the US Open.
Hannah Klugman (GBR)
Britons are abuzz about 14-year-old Hannah Klugman after she scooped the prestigious under-18 Orange Bowl in Florida earlier this month.
The first from Great Britain to claim the trophy, it marked quite the jump for Klugman, who had already contested the U14 Orange Bowl final a year ago.
In October, the prodigious teenager’s confidence surged after she became the youngest to qualify for a $100,000 tournament at ITF level, which pipped Coco Gauff’s previous record. It was an impressive run, which came to an end following a quarterfinal loss to former world No.46 Oceane Dodin.
Renata Jamrichova (SVK)
Singles and mixed doubles gold medals at last year’s European Youth Olympic Festival proved the ideal springboards for Slovakian Jamrichova in 2023.
A singles quarterfinalist at this year’s junior Australian Open, Jamrichova combined with Italian Federica Urgesi to land the girls’ doubles crown.
The 16-year-old went on to reach junior Slam singles semifinals at Wimbledon and the US Open – as well as a full set of doubles semifinals at the majors in 2023 – and also beat French world No.157 Chloe Pacquet to reach the last four on home soil at an ITF $60,000 event in Bratislava.
Jagger Leach (USA)
The son of three-time major winner and former world No.1 Lindsay Davenport and former men’s professional Jon Leach, 16-year-old Leach has athletic genes and inspiration aplenty.
The American started 2023 in a flurry, sweeping 15 straight matches for three straight ITF junior titles in New Zealand.
It was a full-circle moment, given Davenport won the Auckland WTA title in 2008 following her post-maternity comeback with a baby Leach in her arms for the trophy ceremony.
Leach captured his fourth junior ITF title in San Jose and represented the US in the Davis Cup Junior Finals in October and November.
Thijs Boogaard (NED)
Dutch teenager Thijs Boogaard entered 2023 in record-setting form after he became the youngest player in history to win a J300 title in San Jose, Costa Rica in January.
Then 14 years old, he surpassed the mark Bernard Tomic set in 2007. He is in good company with Carlos Alcaraz, Monfils and Felix Auger-Aliassime also J300 winners at age 14.
Now the top-ranked player born in 2008, Boogaard’s victory was his 30th in succession and gave him a sixth straight title.
He will make his AO debut in 2024, having won a round in juniors at Roland Garros and Wimbledon this year.