Silverware, ranking points and prestige will be up for grabs as the focus of the ITF World Tennis Tour Juniors switches to its South American swing in the coming weeks, culminating in the first Grade A event of the season.

The Brazilian city of Criciuma, as it has done since 2019, will provide the backdrop for a Grade A tournament and indeed the historic Banana Bowl, although this year the competition will take on added significance.

It will be the first opportunity for competitors to make a statement in an event of this magnitude following the postponement of the 2021 Australian Open Junior Championships and the cancellation of JA Barranquilla amid the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic.

JA Criciuma will welcome in the month of March, but before then the Juniors Tour will head to Ecuador and Paraguay for Grade 1 events in Salinas and Lambare respectively, before attention moves to Porto Alegre for another Grade 1.

J1 Salinas gets underway on Monday 8 February, while J1 Lambare dominates the following week’s action and J1 Porto Alegre closes the month before the clay courts of Criciuma adopt centre stage.

The venue for the Grade A switched in recent years from Porto Alegre to Criciuma, although regardless of geography the tournament has a rich heritage and can boast an array of future Grand Slam winners and headline acts.

Three-time Roland Garros winner Gustavo Kuerten, Andy Roddick, a US Open champion in 2003, and reigning Olympic champion Monica Puig have all topped the tournament’s podium.

China’s Li Hanwen and Elvina Kalieva of the Untied States are the most recent champions, having triumphed there 12 months ago, with the gauntlet soon to be laid down to the class of 2021.