This week’s Dunlop Road to the AO tournament gives emerging stars the chance to compete for a prized wildcard into the Australian Open junior championships.
The event sees 16 boys and 16 girls from the Asia-Pacific region head to Japan’s Yokkaichi Tennis Centre for the five-day event, from 11-15 November.
The top seed in this year’s boys’ event is Japan’s Koyama Hiromasa, while in the girls’ event the No.1 seed is Yodpetch Kamonwan of Thailand.
Winners of the boys’ and girls’ events will earn wildcards into the main draw of the AO 2025 junior singles tournaments, which will be staged at Melbourne Park from 18-25 January.
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The Dunlop Road to the AO is open to players aged 17 and under, with the 16-player fields featuring four Japanese players – including two players invited by Dunlop – plus 12 players from the wider Asia-Pacific region.
The Dunlop Road to the AO has become a fixture on the calendar since it was first staged in 2020, and is one of the initiatives through which Tennis Australia supports the sport in the Asia-Pacific region.
The AO 2025 junior championships are one of the four Grand Slam junior events, among the most prestigious tournaments on the ITF Junior World Tennis Tour.
Many AO junior champions, including Andy Roddick, Victoria Azarenka, Marcos Baghdatis, Nick Kyrgios, Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova and Karolina Pliskova, have gone on to achieve notable success in the professional game.
Dunlop manufactures the official ball of the Australian Open.