Preview: 2024 Billie Jean King Cup Juniors, Davis Cup Juniors Finals
The 2024 Billie Jean King Cup Juniors by Gainbridge Finals and 2024 Davis Cup Juniors Finals get underway in Antalya, Turkiye on Monday with teams bidding to be crowned the world’s best in the 16-and-under age category.
The Finals are the culmination of a season-long competition which sees nations navigate qualifying events across five regions – Asia/Oceania, Europe, Africa, South America and North/Central America and the Caribbean.
The Finals are this year being held at the Megasaray Tennis Academy in Antalya having been hosted in Cordoba, Spain last year. The Finals were previously held in Antalya in 2021 and 2022.
The 16 nations that will contest 2024 Billie Jean King Cup Juniors Finals are: Australia, Brazil, Canada, Chile, China, P.R., Czechia, Egypt, Germany, Great Britain, Italy, Japan, Korea, Rep., Peru, Romania, Turkiye and USA.
The 16 nations that have qualified for the 2024 Davis Cup Juniors Finals are: Brazil, Chinese Taipei, Egypt, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Japan, Kazakhstan, Mexico, Paraguay, Poland, Portugal, Romania, South Africa, Turkiye, USA.
In both competitions, teams will be split into four groups. Three days of round-robin clay-court action will follow and the top two nations from each group will advance to the knockout stage. The quarter-finals, semis and finals will then take place from 15-17 November following a scheduled day off.
As ever, there are some intriguing storylines. The United States head into the Billie Jean King Cup Juniors Finals bidding to equal their own record of winning three successive titles.
They previously achieved that feat between 2017 and 2019 and now have the chance to do so again after conquering all before them at the last two editions of the competition.
Tyra Caterina Grant – the highest-ranked player across both Finals having risen to No.2 in the ITF World Tennis Tour girls’ rankings – Kristina Penickova and Julieta Pareja make up their 2024 team for the eight-time champions.
The United States are one of five previous Billie Jean King Cup Juniors champions competing in Antalya, with Australia and Czechia – both five-time winners – Germany and Italy the others.
Similarly at the Davis Cup Juniors Finals, only five of the 16 nations competing have previously won the title. Brazil, France, Germany, Japan and the United States are the nations in question.
The most recent of these was Brazil, who won their maiden title in 2022. Spain and Australia remain the most successful nations in Davis Cup Juniors history after chalking up six titles apiece. Neither, however, will be in Antalya.
There are some notable national achievements as well. Romania are set for their first appearance at the Davis Cup Juniors Finals – the first edition was held in 1985 – while Portugal have qualified for the first time since 2001.
It is also worth noting that previous Davis Cup Juniors and Billie Jean King Cup Juniors winning teams have featured the likes of Rafael Nadal, Ashleigh Barty, Felix Auger-Aliassime, Denis Shapovalov, Iga Swiatek, Carlos Alcaraz, Marketa Vondrousova and Coco Gauff, underlining the importance of the event in terms of player development.
There is no denying the significance of the Billie Jean King Cup Juniors Finals and Davis Cup Juniors Finals in terms of the ITF player pathway and all those on show will benefit hugely from their time in Antalya.