The boys final at the Osaka Mayor's Cup looked like a repeat of the US Open Junior Championships final, but this time it was Marcos Baghdatis in the winners circle after a 6-7(3),6-3,6-3 win over Jo-Wilfried Tsonga. Veronika Chvojkova captured her first ITF singles title when she defeated Andrea Hlavackova, 6-2,1-6,6-4. Andrea did take the doubles, though, with partner Emma Laine. The boys doubles was won by Arun Prakash Rajagopalan and Divij Sharan.

The Maureen Connolly Brinker Tennis Foundation has just promoted Carol Weyman to Executive Vice-President. Ms. Weyman has been with the foundation since 1989 and has worked her way to Executive Director with responsibilities that include organizing and promoting programs like the Maureen Connolly Challenge Trophy and the Little Mo Sectionals, Regionals & Nationals.

As the USTA starts the new year with a new ranking system, so will the ITF. The ITF Board of Directors approved a Combined Junior Ranking that will include both singles and doubles. This ranking will replace the current Junior Singles Rankings and Junior Doubles Rankings. The goal is to "encourage a more rounded game among junior players." For more information, visit the ITF Juniors Website.

At the October Canadian ITF Junior Tennis Championships, American Yvette Hyndman had a great tournament as she made an appearance in both final events. She lost to Melanie Gloria in the singles and then teamed up with the Canadian for the finals of the doubles, where they were defeated by Stephanie Wetmore/Sharon Fichman. In the boys events, Salifu Mohammed of Ghana was the winner over Matt Bruch of the United States in singles. Americans Marek Czerwinski and Maciek Sykut took the doubles over Canadians Erik Chvojka and Eric Molnar.

The 2003 Thailand International Junior Championships produced some hometown heroes as Chu Huan won the boys singles title and Yung-Jan Chan paired with Korea's Sun-Yong Kim for the girls doubles. Ekaterina Kosminskaia of Russia was the girls singles winner and Woong-Sun Jun and Sun-Yong Kim of Korea won boys doubles.

Lynn Rolley has resigned from her position as Director of Women's Tennis for USA High Performance to pursue other endeavors. Eliot Teltscher, Director of Tennis Operations for USA High performance, will take over her responsibilities.

If you have information to be included in Junior News
Contact Us-E-Mail-Marcia@MarciaFrost.com