USA earn fifth BNP Paribas World Team Cup junior title
USA became junior champions for the fifth time on Sunday’s final day of the 2024 BNP Paribas World Team Cup after a 2-0 victory over Australia at the Megasaray Tennis Academy in Antalya.
For Charlie Cooper, Tomas Majetic and Maximus Wong it was the perfect response to narrowly missing out in 2023, when their silver medal marked the last World Team Cup for their outgoing team captain Paul Walker.
But now, guided by new captain Kevin Heim and with Sabina Czauz adding depth to the team, Cooper was quick to pay tribute to Walker.
“There’s been a lot in the making of this one with the boys and now Sabina.” said Cooper, whose 6-2, 6-1 win over Benjamin Wenzel wrapped up USA’s victory.
“Silver last year, you know, it was tough for us with our coach Paul Walker retiring and we really wanted him to go out with the gold. It was heartbreaking. Coming into this year we put in a lot of work. We had that one goal in mind of getting gold, so we all knew that it would take all four of us to get it done and we had to believe in each other and stay humble. We had to put a lot of work in and I couldn't be happier to get it done here in Turkey.”
Majetic had given USA a 1-0 lead after beating Jin Woodman 6-0 6-3.
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USA’s win in the final was a repeat of their performance against Australia in the round-robin group stage earlier in the week, when Majetic and Cooper also secured straight sets wins over Australia’s Jin Woodman and Wenzel on the second day of junior competition.