The ITF World Tennis Tour Juniors – the breeding ground for the stars of tomorrow and a major step on the ITF player pathway – has enjoyed an unparalleled year with a record 791 tournaments staged as playing opportunities have increased. 

A further record has been set in terms of players competing. 16,102 players (8,711 boys and 7,391 girls) have competed at ITF World Tennis Tour Juniors events this year, beating the previous best of 14,832 in 2019 by more than 1,200.

The 791 tournaments have been staged in 116 nations, which is an increase of 24 compared with 2021, while there was a little piece of history for Réunion, which hosted its first ITF World Tennis Tour Juniors event.

In addition to the Junior Grand Slams, for the first time there were seven Grade A tournaments – the highest classification of event – on the ITF World Tennis Tour Juniors in 2022 with Offenbach promoted from Grade 1 status. The other Grade As were held in Criciuma (BRA), Milan (ITA), Pretoria (RSA), Osaka (JPN), Merida (MEX) and Plantation (USA).

There were also 31 Grade 1s, 53 Grade 2s, 111 Grade 3s, 238 Grade 4s and 338 Grade 5s – the entry-level to the Tour – as well as nine closed tournaments for players from the host nation only.

Czech Republic's Lucie Havlickova, Nishesh Basavareddy of the United States, Sofia Costoulas of Belgium and Korea, Republic’s Gerard Campana Lee all won two Grade A singles titles – the most on the ITF World Tennis Tour Juniors.

Havlickova and Costoulas also won the most ITF World Tennis Tour Juniors Grade A doubles titles with three, including the title they won together at Offenbach.

Havlickova, who won a Junior Grand Slam singles title at Roland Garros and doubles titles at Roland Garros and the US Open, finished 2022 as the year-end No. 1 girl. As a result, she has also been named an ITF World Champion.

In boys’ tennis, the same accolade went to Belgium’s Gilles Bailly, who claimed three singles titles at J1 level and finished runner-up at two Junior Grand Slams. Bailly is the first Belgian male across any category to be crowned an ITF World Champion.

In terms of titles won at all levels, New Zealand’s Diego Quispe-Kim was the most successful boy to compete on the ITF World Tennis Tour Juniors in 2022 after topping the podium 11 times across singles and doubles.

Costoulas and Dune Vaissaud of France were the most successful girls on the Tour this year, with both also reaching doubles figures and winning a combined 10 titles across singles and doubles.

With eight titles, Quispe-Kim won the most singles events in boys’ tennis, while Alina Korneeva’s haul of six saw her claim the most singles titles in girls’ tennis. In doubles, Croatia’s Dora Miskovic won eight titles, while Vitaliy Zatsepin of Kazakhstan claimed seven.

At 13 years 10 months and 25 days, Cruz Hewitt, the son of former world No. 1 Lleyton, was the youngest boy to win a title in 2022 following success at J5 Lautoka in November.

The youngest girl to top a podium was Italy’s Sara Angelica, who at the age of 13 years and seven days conquered all before her at J5 Jeddah last month.

The longest winning streak by a boy was achieved by China’s Tianhui Zhang, who recorded 30 successive match-wins across six tournaments (at J3, J4 and J5 level) between June and August.

The longest winning streak by a girl was achieved by Portugal’s Angelina Voloshchuk, who by winning four successive (J4 and J5) tournaments between August and October has recorded an unbroken run of 24 consecutive match-wins.

While there is so much from 2022 to celebrate, the new ITF World Tennis Tour Juniors season is only days away and 2023 promises to be another campaign full of fabulous tennis where names will be made, and reputations enhanced.