Draw made for 2024 US Open Junior Championships
The final Slam of the year is here, and there will be no easy path for the boys and girls top seeds. Which, of course, is as it should be.
The 2024 US Open Junior Championships get underway Sunday at the Billie Jean King National Tennis Center, and both top seeds, Wimbledon champ Nicolai Budkov Kjaer of Norway and Emerson Jones of Australia, will have quite a few roadblocks in their way.
Jones, a 16-year-old, is seeking her first Slam title after coming so close earlier this year. She reached the final of the Australian Open, losing to Renata Jamrichova, and then fell again to the Slovak in the Junior Championships, Wimbledon in July.
If Jones is to make it to a third Slam final in 2024, she could face 15-year-old American Thea Frodin, who just reached the final of J300 College Park and earlier made the semis at J300 Indian Wells, in the quarter-finals.
Jones also could run into 16-year-old Iva Jovic, a two-time Slam doubles winner this year (Roland Garros and Wimbledon) in the semi-finals. Jovic, the No.3 seed, won a round in the women’s singles draw at the Open last week.
Some terrific first-round match-ups on tap for the girls' draw sees No. 2 seed Tyra Caterina Grant, Jovic’s partner in the two Slam doubles crowns, facing Mayu Crossley of Japan, who won one J300 and reached the finals of another this year en route to a No.22 junior ranking.
Also in the first round among the girls sees American wild card and 15-year-old Julieta Pareja, who reached the finals in women’s qualifying at the US Open, play Serbian No. 4 seed Teodora Kostovic. Kostovic, fresh off a win at the J300 College Park last week, was a Wimbledon quarter-finalist as well.
On the boy's side, top seed Budkov Kjaer, fresh off his title at the All England Club in July, opens with American qualifier Keaton Hance. But Budkov Kjaer could face No. 18 ranked Naoya Honda of Japan in Round 3, then American Jagger Leach, a Wimbledon quarter-finalist, in that same round in New York.
On the bottom half of the draw, No. 2 seed American Kaylun Bigun, the Roland Garros champ, could be confronted with the red-hot play of Spain’s Rafael Jodar, the No. 12 seed, in the quarter-finals. Before then Bigun could face fellow American Matthew Forbes, the U.S. Boys national champion, in the third round.
There are some excellent first-round matches on tap in the boys draw. Sixteen year old American Jack Kennedy, who was the runner-up in the U.S. Boys Nationals in August and competed in the men’s qualifying draw, faces No. 4 seed Mees Rottgering of the Netherlands. Rottgering reached the Wimbledon final in July, and the semifinals in Australia, using his all-court game and experience to excel wherever he has played in 2024.
Another boys first-rounder to watch pits America’s Nikita Filin against Switzerland star Henry Bernet, a quarterfinalist at Roland Garros who pushed eventual champion Kaylun Bigun to a 6-4 third set.
The Boys and Girls singles tournaments get underway Sunday, with the singles finals in both scheduled for Saturday, Sept. 7. The doubles finals will also be that day; those draws have not yet been released.
The full draw from the 2024 US Open Junior Championships is available here