Who are the biggest risers in junior tennis so far in 2024?

We are six weeks into the 2024 season and players are making their mark within the ITF World Tennis Tour junior rankings. The first J500 event – tournaments which are one rung below Junior Grand Slams – takes place later this month in Cairo, so it would seem an appropriate time to check in and see who is making their presence felt within junior tennis so far this season.

• Perhaps the most noteworthy names in 2024 so far are Rei Sakamoto of Japan and Slovakia’s Renata Jamrichova, who won the boys’ and girls’ singles titles respectively at the Australian Open. For both, it was their maiden Junior Grand Slam singles success and a statement of intent at the start of a new season. Sakamoto, who became the first Japanese to top the singles podium at the Australian Open, is No. 3 in the boys’ rankings while Jamrichova occupies top spot in the girls' standings. 

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• Sometimes it is easy to overlook the doubles winners at a Junior Grand Slam and in Melbourne it was an American masterclass with Iva Jovic and Tyra Caterina Grant conquering all before them in the girls’ draw, with Maxwell Exsted and Cooper Woestendick doing likewise in the boys’ competition. Exsted and Woestendick also won the doubles at J300 Traralgon, the traditional warm-up event to the Aussie Open where the latter also reached the quarter-finals in singles. Woestendick has perhaps made the big impression in 2024, jumping 29 places in the rankings since the start of the season to now occupy a career-high No. 13 in the boys’ rankings.
  
  
• Two notable risers in the boys’ rankings are Czechia’s Jan Kumstat and Mees Rottgering of Netherlands. Kumstat reached the Australian Open boys’ singles final which has contributed to him jumping a combined 28 places in 2024 to a career-high No. 9 in the boys’ rankings. Rottgering, meanwhile, reached the semi-finals at the Australian Open and J300 Traralgon, propelling him 25 places to a career-high No. 10 in the rankings. Of the players now ranked within the Top 50, the name which immediately jumps off the page when looking at the biggest risers in 2024 is Ian Mayew of the United States. Mayew has risen a staggering 223 places this season to a career-high No. 40 in the boys’ rankings following title-wins at J300 San Jose and J300 Barranquilla.
  
  
• Serbia’s Ognjen Milic is another to have enjoyed a blistering start to the campaign and has won singles titles at J200 New Delhi and J200 Kolkata, climbing 75 places to No. 49 in the boys’ rankings as a result.
  
  

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• On the girls’ side, Lithuania’s Laima Vladson, who is 16 years old, deserves some of the limelight after a hugely promising start to the season which has seen her win J200 Bratislava and reach the final at J200 Hammamet and J200 Tunis. She has surged 48 places to No. 52 in the girls’ rankings.
  
  
• Shannon Lam of the United States is just 15 years old and would appear to be making her move this season. The teenager has risen 49 places to No. 60 in the rankings having won both the singles and doubles at J300 San Jose. Her doubles triumph was alongside Thea Frodin, who herself has jumped 51 places to No. 70.

These are just a few names with which to conjure in the opening stages of the 2024 campaign, but others will most certainly flicker on the radar of tennis fans as the season progresses. The rankings will be updated on Monday and it could well be all change depending on results this weekend. In short, an exciting start to proceedings.