Preview: 2024 Trofeo Bonfiglio, J500 Milan
As we prepare to witness the stars of tomorrow compete for Trofeo Bonfiglio at J500 Milan, it is the time of year when the junior world rankings start to take serious shape.
It also feels like a period when the juniors calendar hits overdrive with two Junior Grand Slams – the Roland Garros Junior Championships and the Junior Championships, Wimbledon – coming in quick succession.
The quest to lift Trofeo Bonfiglio gets underway on Monday and it will be once again competed for at Tennis Club Milano Alberto Bonacossa – a place of history and grandeur.
Tennis has been enjoyed at Tennis Club Milano Alberto Bonacossa since 1893 and while next week’s focus will be the game’s future, with a host of rising stars competing, its past is striking in more ways than one.
Those contesting J500 Milan are bidding to follow in some exceptionally lofty footsteps, with the event boasting an awe-inspiring roll call of past winners.
In the last 20 years alone, Stefanos Tsitsipas, Alexei Popyrin, Elena Rybakina, Marketa Vondrousova, Alexander Zverev, Belinda Bencic, Katerina Siniakova, Sloane Stephens and Simona Halep have all triumphed at J500 Milan.
Winning silverware at this level of junior competition was an important step on each of their respective tennis journeys as they advanced their careers and progressed along the player pathway.
Going further back, the likes of Jim Courier, Gabriela Sabatini, Ivan Lendl and Jan Kodes also topped the J500 Milan podium so when making reference to the event’s history, the class of 2024 really are following greatness.
When the players take to Milan’s clay-courts next week, the girls’ draw will be spearheaded by Australia’s Emerson Jones, who is currently ranked No. 3 in the ITF World Tennis Tour Junior Rankings.
Still only 15, Jones is forging a strong reputation for herself after reaching the final of the Australian Open Junior Championships in January having triumphed at J500 Osaka in October.
Jones also came close to claiming her maiden ITF World Tennis Tour Women’s title earlier this year, only to lose in three sets in the final at March's W35 Swan Hill.
She will be joined in the girls’ draw by fellow Top 10 players Tyra Caterina Grant of the United States and Great Britain’s Hannah Klugman. The latter claimed victory at J500 Plantation – the Orange Bowl – in December.
The likes of Great Britain’s Mingge Xu, Alena Kovackova of Czechia, Bulgaria’s Iva Ivanova and Chile’s Antonia Vergara Rivera will be eyeing silverware and, as a consequence, a significant rankings boost.
In the boys’ draw, meanwhile, Norway’s Nicolai Budkov Kjaer is the highest-ranked player and will go in search of his third title of the season having triumphed at J300 Beaulieu-sur-Mer last month.
More significantly perhaps, the 17-year-old, who is ranked No. 3 in the ITF World Tennis Tour boys’ rankings, also won his first professional title at M15 Antalya in March.
Budkov Kjaer is joined in the boys’ draw by Luca Preda of Romania, who topped the podium at J500 Cairo in February, and Australia’s Hayden Jones – Emerson’s brother.
Great Britain’s Oliver Bonding is also in the draw. He is another previous J500 winner having conquered all before him at J500 Blumenau in March and will have his sights set on victory.
There are others who fall into that category, of course. The likes of Petr Brunclik of Czechia, Kaylan Bigun of the United States, Kazakhstan’s Amir Omarkhanov and Miguel Tobin of Colombia are unlikely to take a backward step.
As a reminder, J500 tournaments provide premier playing opportunities for players on the ITF World Tennis Tour Juniors and offer significant ranking points to those crowned champions.
In short, J500s are one rung below Junior Grand Slams and J500 Milan is the fourth of seven such events on the ITF World Tennis Tour Juniors in 2024.
It is also worth noting that any ranking points accrued in Milan will contribute towards qualification for October’s ITF World Tennis Tour Junior Finals in Chengdu.
The ITF World Tennis Tour Junior Finals showcase the best junior players on the ITF World Tennis Tour Juniors from the previous 12 months.
The Finals will consist of the top eight boys and girls in the ITF World Tennis Tour Junior Finals Qualification Rankings. The Qualification Rankings can be viewed here.