It has been a long wait, but the cream of the junior crop is convening in Paris and preparing to compete for one of the biggest prizes on offer to rising stars – a Junior Grand Slam title.

Due to the postponement of the Australian Open Junior Championships earlier this year, the junior extravaganza at Roland Garros, which begins on Sunday, is the maiden Junior Grand Slam of the season.

With sizeable ranking points and plenty of prestige on offer, it is the first opportunity of the 2021 campaign for players to rub shoulders with the big guns of the tennis world off court and really assert themselves on it.

After all, whoever tops their respective podiums will very much make their presence felt – or indeed strengthen their position – in the world rankings.

Andorra’s Victoria Jimenez Kasintseva, who at the age of 14 triumphed at the 2020 Australian Open Junior Championships, is the only previous Junior Grand Slam singles champion in either draw. Unsurprisingly, she is the top-seeded girl.

There are, however, several past Junior Grand Slam doubles champions present. Alexandra Eala of the Philippines and Indonesia’s Priska Madelyn Nugroho – victors in Melbourne last year – and Italian pair Lisa Pigato and Eleonora Alvisi, who won in Paris seven months ago, will contest the girls’ draw.

Second seed Eala, who won the first professional title of her career at W15 Manacor in January, reached the semi-finals of Roland Garros in 2020 and will no doubt be keen to add a Junior Grand Slam singles crown to her silverware collection.

Russia’s Polina Kudermetova has also picked up a professional title this season, at W15 Antalya in February, and is seeded No.3, while fellow Russian Diana Shnaider, a J1 victor at Villena earlier this year, is the fourth seed.

Meanwhile, Robin Montgomery of the United States, a Grade A winner at the prestigious Orange Bowl in 2019, is back in France – a country she holds dear after a visit to Omaha Beach had a profound effect upon her – and has eyes on the big prize.

Talking of Grade A champions, France’s Oceane Babel conquered all before her at the only tournament of this stature held so far in 2021, winning the girls’ singles at Criciuma in March.

Babel, who grew up in Sarcelles – a suburb in northern Paris – and learnt to play the game on a Nintendo Wii, is bidding to follow in the footsteps of Elsa Jacquemot and triumph at a Junior Grand Slam on home soil.

At the 2020 Roland Garros Junior Championships in October, Jacquemot became the first French girls’ singles champion to succeed on the clay courts of Paris since Kristina Mladenovic in 2009. Babel is seeded No. 6 in the French capital.

Unlike in the girls’ draw, the top-seeded boy is not a previous Junior Grand Slam champion, although China’s Juncheng Shang does have a Grade A title to his name having triumphed at Criciuma in March.

Bruno Kuzuhara of the United States is another who has enjoyed a productive season, winning at J1 Lambare, reaching the finals at J1 Salinas and J1 Porto Alegre and the semi-finals of three other events, including JA Criciuma.

Brazil’s Pedro Boscardin Dias, who Kuzuhara defeated to clinch victory at Lambare, is the third seed, while Jack Pinnington Jones of Great Britain is seeded No. 4 and Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard of France seeded No. 5.

There are also other interesting storylines to keep an eye on, with home favourite Arthur Fils, who defeated Australia’s Bernard Tomic in the first round of qualifying for the men’s draw, in contention in the boys’ competition.

Leo Borg, son of the legendary Bjorn who won Roland Garros on six occasions, is set to make his Junior Grand Slam main draw debut and will be eager to perform well on the courts where his father achieved so much.

Borg spoke with itftennis.com earlier in the year and intimated that he felt people were starting to take notice of his tennis ability rather than just focusing on his famous surname after being crowned boys’ champion at J1 Porto Alegre.

Last year’s boys’ draw, meanwhile, was dominated by one nation, with Dominic Stricker defeating Leandro Riedi in an all-Swiss final to lift silverware – a victory which prompted a congratulatory text message from 20-time Grand Slam champion Roger Federer.

There is Swiss representation in the boys’ draw once again in the form of Jerome Kym, who last year joined Stricker and Riedi in Dubai for a pre-Australian Open training camp with Federer. Kym, who is a year younger than Stricker and Ridei, has the opportunity to make it back-to-back Swiss boys’ champions.

Further information on the Roland Garros Junior Championships, including a full acceptance list for both the boys’ and girls’ draws, can be viewed here.