The Class of 2019 series recognises those players who are successfully making the transition from their ITF World Tennis Tour Junior careers into the professional game. Part 3 focuses on two players who have benefitted from the ITF Junior Reserved initiative – Denmark’s Clara Tauson and Sebastien Baez of Argentina

Denmark’s Clara Tauson and Argentina’s Sebastian Baez have shown that age is no barrier to success on the ITF World Tennis Tour this year.

Both players have made their mark on the professional game in 2019, winning four singles titles each, and both have had the opportunity to succeed thanks to two new ITF initiatives that allow the best Juniors to progress more quickly.

Thanks to changes on the ITF World Tennis Tour in 2019 five main draw places are now available at every 15s tournament for Top 100 Junior players who otherwise wouldn’t be able to gain entry. These are called Junior Reserved places.

Year-end Top 20 Junior players also earn the right to gain entry to higher-level ITF World Tennis Tour tournaments using what is known as a Junior Exempt Position. Tauson’s year-end Junior ranking of No. 4 earned her entry into two W60 and one W25 tournament in 2019; while Baez’s No. 3 finish on the ITF Junior rankings in 2018 meant he was eligible for three Junior Exempt entries at M25 tournaments this year.

Tauson made her mark in spectacular fashion. Her first three months of the year were near-perfection: five tournaments played, five tournaments won.

The Danish 16-year-old collected three ITF World Tennis Tour crowns, winning W15 events in Monastir, Tunisia, and Xiamen, China – entered using the Junior Reserved places introduced for the 2019 season – either side of the biggest professional title of her fledgling career, the W60 Shenzhen event, where she entered with a Junior Exempt spot.

Tauson shot up from a year-end WTA ranking of No. 863 in 2018 to claim a year-end spot in 2019 of No. 271. Throw in representing Denmark in Fed Cup in February and it’s fair to say it has been quite the 12 months for Denmark’s rising star.

Baez made similarly good use of his Junior ranking to gain entry to professional events. After lifting his first title as a direct entry at M15 Buenos Aires, the 18-year-old Argentine followed up a semi-final finish in his home town with a successful three-week stint in Tunisia that saw him lose to the same opponent two weeks in a row before taking the silverware at M15 Tabarka.

All four tournaments were entered thanks to a Junior Reserved place. Two unsuccessful Junior Exempt entries followed at M25 level but it wasn’t long before Baez was gaining direct entry to professional tournaments and winning them.

He found a second home in Tunisia this year, having played seven events in Tabarka, but his best result was clinching a first M25 title in Rio de Janeiro in October. He ended 2019 with an ATP ranking of No. 400 and an ITF ranking of No. 38.

Tauson and Baez should be an inspiration to 2019’s top Juniors that their breakthrough year might happen sooner than they think.