Who is leading the race to qualify for the 2024 ITF Junior Finals?
Wimbledon champion Nicolai Budkov Kjaer of Norway and Australia’s Emerson Jones are leading the race to qualify for the 2024 ITF World Tennis Tour Junior Finals – the junior equivalent of the ATP and WTA Finals.
The ITF World Tennis Tour Junior Finals are a prestigious showpiece event which see 16 of the world’s top junior players – eight boys and eight girls – compete at the Sichuan International Tennis Center in Chengdu.
The back catalogue of players to have competed at the ITF Junior Finals is highly impressive and reflects the significance to the tournament in respect of an individual’s development and its role within the ITF player pathway.
Grand Slam champions Marketa Vondrousova, Elena Rybakina, Sofia Kenin and Jelena Ostapenko have all competed in Chengdu, as have the likes of Casper Ruud, Holger Rune, Andrey Rublev, Taylor Fritz, Leylah Fernandez, Lorenzo Musetti, Marta Kostyuk, Sebastian Baez and Camila Osorio.
The 2024 event will take place from 16-20 October and will again feature the best players in the 18-and-under age category from the past 12 months on the ITF World Tennis Tour Juniors.
The ITF World Tennis Tour Junior Finals Qualification Rankings can be viewed here. In terms of who is on course to reach the Finals, Budkov Kjaer is out in front in the boys' rankings followed by Kaylan Bigun and Rei Sakamoto – the 2024 Roland Garros and Australian Open singles champions respectively.
After that trio comes Austria’s Joel Schwaerzler, who won the 2023 boys' title in Chengdu, Mees Rottgering of Netherlands, Romania’s Luca Preda and Czech duo Maxim Mrva and Jan Kumstat.
For the girls, Jones is joined by Renata Jamrichova – a two-time Junior Grand Slam singles champion in 2024 – and Tyra Caterina Grant, who has won two Junior Grand Slam doubles titles this year.
The current top eight is completed by Czech sensation Laura Samson, Iva Jovic of the United States, Serbia’s Teodora Kostovic, Jeline Vandromme of Belgium and Japan’s Wakana Sonobe.
However, like with the boys, there is still time for players to force their way into the reckoning. A big opportunity for those currently outside the top eight is the US Open Junior Championships, which get underway on 1 September, ahead of the ranking cut-off for the ITF Juniors Finals on 9 September.
It is worth noting that if no Chinese player finishes in the top eight of the rankings, the final place in each draw will be reserved for any Chinese player who finishes in the top 25. If no Chinese player finishes in the top 25, the eighth place will revert to the qualification rankings list. Provided they are ranked within the Top 75, there will also be a Chinese alternate, who will be present in case of illness or injury but will also gain invaluable experience training and hitting with high-ranked peers
The winner of each event will earn 850 ranking points, which will boost their quest to finish the season as the year-end junior world No. 1. Furthermore, players will also benefit from travel grants to support their future progression to professional tennis.
The 2024 winner in both the boys’ and girls’ events will receive up to $19,000 USD, with travel grants staggered at every level through to those in eighth position who will receive a minimum of $6,000 USD.