The Osaka Mayor’s Cup gets underway at the Utsubo Tennis Centre in Osaka, Japan on Monday and it is yet another tournament on the ITF World Tennis Tour Juniors which has a rich and compelling history.

However, while the competition has a striking past, it is the game’s future that will be in focus with a host of rising stars competing and bidding for silverware at the season’s latest J500 event.

J500s provide premier playing opportunities for players on the ITF World Tennis Tour Juniors and offer significant ranking points to those who reach the latter stages and are crowned champions.

In short, J500s are one rung below Junior Grand Slams in terms of the ranking points available to players and J500 Osaka is the fifth of seven such events on the ITF World Tennis Tour Juniors in 2024.

The ranking points claimed in Osaka could well make a significant contribution to a player’s year-end ranking as the battle to finish the season as the top-ranked boy and girl on the planet really hots up.

After all, there are no more Junior Grand Slams to play so J500s – the next after Osaka takes place in Merida, Mexico in November before December’s Orange Bowl – are the best way to seal a rankings boost.

Indeed, those contesting the Osaka Mayor’s Cup are also bidding to follow in some lofty footsteps, with the event boasting an impressive roll call of past winners.

In the last 20 years or so, the likes of Casper Ruud, Taylor Fritz, Victoria Azarenka, Caroline Wozniacki, Marin Cilic, Katerina Siniakova and Nick Kyrgios have all triumphed at J500 Osaka.

More than that, however, winning silverware at this level of junior competition was an important step on each of their respective tennis journeys as they progressed along the player pathway. The same could well apply to the class of 2024.

When the players take to Osaka’s hard courts this week, Czechia’s Jan Kumstat, who was he boys’ runner-up at January’s Australian Open, Hayden Jones of Australia and Kazakhstan’s Amir Omarkhanov will be some of the highest-ranked boys on show.

In the girls’ draw, home favourite Reina Goto, Czechia’s Tereza Krejcova, Lea Nilsson of Sweden and Bulgaria’s Yuliya Perapekhina will be some of the higher-ranked players bidding for glory and silverware.

Further information on J500 Osaka, including full acceptance lists as well as draws and results, is available here.