7 April 2016 | Tennis Australia
India will host Australia’s top 16-and-under juniors when the Junior Davis and Fed Cup by BNP Paribas Asia / Oceania final qualifying tournament gets underway today at R K Khanna Tennis Stadium in New Delhi.
Australia’s Junior Davis Cup team has arrived in the Indian capital with Victoria’s Thomas Bosancic (Brighton, Vic) set to make his debut in the green and gold alongside Alex Crnokrak (Varsity Lakes, Qld) and Sean Van Rensburg (Seaford Rise, SA). They will be led by captain Jamie Morgan, National Academy Queensland coach and former Australian Davis Cup player.
In the Australia’s Junior Fed Cup team, Victoria’s Jeanette Lin (Toorak, Vic) and Jessica Zaviacic (Melbourne, Vic) will fly the flag as well as Kaitlin Staines (Forest Hill, NSW). The team will be led by captain and Tennis Australia coach Lou Pleming.
Kathryn Oyeniyi, Tennis Australia Professional Teams Manager, said Junior Davis and Fed Cup was a great opportunity for juniors to gain experience on the international stage.
“This is a fantastic opportunity for our up-and-coming players to don the green and gold and compete against some of the best players in the world in their age group,” Oyeniyi said.
“Both teams will gain solid experience working as part of a team and, with some great results behind both teams, we look forward to seeing some competitive matches over the next couple of weeks.”
The Junior Davis Cup by BNP Paribas Asia / Oceania final qualifying will run from today until Saturday 9 April. Australia is seeded fourth and will face the Philippines in its first round robin tie before taking on sixth seed Chinese Taipei and Uzbekistan in Group D. Play will commence at 10.30 am local time.
The daily order of play and results are available online via the ITF Juniors tournament website.
The girls’ competition will be held from Monday 11 April through to Saturday 16 April.
One hundred and fifty competitors aged 16-and-under, as well as officials and staff from more than 15 countries in the Asia-Pacific region are expected to travel to India to battle it out for a top four position and the chance to compete at the Junior Davis and Fed Cup world finals in September.
Australia has a proud history of Junior Davis Cup and Junior Fed Cup competition. Since the international teams competition began in 1985, Australia has won the Junior Davis Cup title six times, most recently in 2009, and the Junior Fed Cup title five times, most recently in 2011.
Australia finished fifth overall in both the boys’ and girls’ competitions in 2015.
There are currently six Australian boys and five Australian girls ranked inside the world’s top 150 junior players.
Junior Davis Cup
- Alex Crnokrak, (Varsity Lakes, Qld)
- Thomas Bosancic, (Brighton, Vic)
- Sean Van Rensburg, (Seaford Rise, SA)
Captain: Jamie Morgan, National Academy Queensland coach
Junior Fed Cup
- Jeanette Lin, (Toorak, Vic)
- Kaitlin Staines, (Forest Hill, NSW)
- Jessica Zaviacic, (Melbourne, Vic)
Captain: Lou Pleming, Tennis Australia coach