The surfaces are as immaculate as ever, the courts are studiously marked out and anticipation is building – yes, the grass-court season and all the excitement and self-examination that brings is well and truly upon us.

In terms of juniors, the stars of tomorrow will have their moment under the glare of the Grand Slam spotlight from 8 July when the Junior Championships, Wimbledon get underway.

Prior to that, there is the small matter of J300 Roehampton, the traditional warm-up event to the Junior Championships which begins on Sunday, where important ranking points and silverware are up for grabs.

J300 Roehampton also offers exposure to and valuable practice on grass, with some players unlikely to have played a competitive match or had much experience of the green stuff previously.

It is also worth noting that seven of the last 10 girls to triumph at J300 Roehampton have proceeded to conquer all before them at the Junior Championships, so its importance should not be underestimated.

While Alina Korneeva – the No. 1-ranked girl on the planet – is not competing at J300 Roehampton, she is set to contest the Junior Championships and she will do so with the hand of history on her shoulder.

Having won both the Australian Open and Roland Garros Junior Championships, the 16-year-old is bidding to become the first girl since Bulgaria’s Magdalena Maleeva in 1990 to claim three Junior Grand Slam titles in the same season.

No girl has ever topped the podium at the opening three Junior Grand Slams of a campaign, although the feat has been achieved previously with Stefan Edberg winning all four Junior Grand Slams in 1983 and Gael Monfils triumphing in Melbourne, Paris and London in 2004. 

Korneeva, however, is one of those players who is something of a stranger to grass, having never before competed on the surface so it will be interesting to see how this prodigiously talented teenager fares.

Lucciana Perez Alarcon, who earlier this year received a Player Grant through the Grand Slam Player Development Programme, made history in Paris last month when she became the first Peruvian girl to reach a Junior Grand Slam final.

Perez Alarcon will have designs on going one better this time around although, like Korneeva, her grass-court experience is minimal having won just one of the four matches she has contested on the surface.

Other leading girls, in terms of the rankings at least, who will have their eyes on Wimbledon silverware include Clervie Ngounoue of the United States, Slovakia’s Renata Jamrichova and Japanese duo Sara Saito and Sayaka Ishii. All four are also playing J300 Roehampton.

Also on the SW19 acceptance list is Nikola Bartunkova, who was part of the Czech Republic team, alongside Sara Bejlek and Brenda Fruhvirtova, which topped the podium at the 2021 Billie Jean King Cup Juniors Finals.

Bartunkova sealed her first professional title at W25 Santa Margherita di Pula in April and is currently ranked No. 344 in the WTA Rankings. She is one to keep an eye on. 

The Great British charge, meanwhile, will be led by Ella McDonald, Ranah Akua Stoiber, Mingge Xu and Hannah Klugman, while other home favourites are set to compete in qualifying so that contingent may expand by 8 July.

Unlike the girls, there is no previous Junior Grand Slam singles winner in the boys’ draw at the Junior Championships with Juan Carlos Prado Angelo of Bolivia the highest-ranked player in the ITF World Tennis Tour boys’ rankings.

Prado Angelo, who has been supported in his professional ambitions by the Grand Slam Player Development Programme having received a Player Grant in 2022, proved a trailblazer at Roland Garros last month.

The 18-year-old became the first Bolivian to reach a Junior Grand Slam singles final, and while he will be among the leading lights again at Wimbledon the conundrum of grass once again threatens to rear its head. Prado Angelo is yet to win a competitive match on the surface.

He will, however, have J300 Roehampton to sharpen his game prior to Wimbledon, as will the likes of Mexico’s Rodrigo Pacheco, Yi Zhou of China, P.R., Iliyan Radulov of Bulgaria, the increasingly impressive Yaroslav Demin and Cooper Williams of the United States.

Someone who is often spoken about in glowing terms is Joao Fonseca of Brazil, and the 16-year-old will take his place in the boys’ draw at both J300 Roehampton and the Junior Championships as he bids to enhance his burgeoning reputation.  

In terms of Brits, unless qualifying swells the group Great Britain will be represented by Henry Searle and Oliver Bonding at Wimbledon.

For players competing at J300 Roehampton and Wimbledon, it is worth noting that all ranking points count towards qualification for the ITF World Tennis Tour Junior Finals in Chengdu, which will take place from 16-22 October.

The Junior Finals showcase the best junior players on the ITF World Tennis Tour from the previous 12 months and consist of the top eight boys and girls in the ITF World Tennis Tour Junior Finals Qualification Rankings.  

Click the relevant tournament for further information about J300 Roehampton and the Junior Championships, Wimbledon.