5 November 2021 | Tennis Victoria

The Associations Junior League (AJL) is back for another season in 2021!

The AJL is tennis’ junior association representation competition, where the best players in their age divisions represent their associations against the best players from around Melbourne and Geelong.

Previously called Junior Pennant, the competition was renamed Associations Junior League in 2017, and brings together the best junior players from ten Victorian associations.

The competition kicks off this weekend; teams of four across seventeen divisions compete every Sunday morning, with the Grand Final set to be held in December.

The 18A Mixed division was reinstated for the 2020 competition after a six-year absence. Having claimed victory in the 18A Mixed division last year, Barwon have decided that if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it – and have entered a nearly identical team to compete in 2021.

Eastern Region are also looking to have a stellar season in 2021, having entered the most teams of any association! The 16/u boys and girls divisions also have the most teams in six years, a promising sign for the future of tennis in Victoria.

Renee Milhuka of the North Suburban Junior Tennis Association is excited for the competition to resume after a tough few months in Victoria.

“It’s a great chance to play other kids from around Metro Vic in a competitive, fun, teams environment. Everyone is so pumped to get out there and play again.”

The competition involves four singles rubbers (best of two sets) and two doubles rubbers (8 game set) in each home and away match.

At the end of the competition, a player in each A division is awarded “Player of the Year”. The award considers the player’s performance across both singles and doubles matches.

You might recognise some of the previous winners with Aaron Addison, Alana Parnaby and Destanee Aiava among the AJL Players of the Year who have gone on to pursue a professional tennis career.

Tennis Victoria have used ratings as the primary method of grading this season, aligning the competition with TA sanctioned tournaments.

Good luck to all the teams and players, we can’t wait to see you on court!

To learn more about AJL and view fixtures, ladders and results, click here.