Top American Juniors to Compete at 2009 Wimbledon Boys’ and Girls’ Championships
June 22, 2009
*WHITE PLAINS, N.Y., June 22, 2009 — *The USTA today announced the nine boys and eight girls who have been accepted into the main draw and the qualifying draw at the 2009 Wimbledon Junior Championships. The main draw will be played June 27-July 5 at The All England Lawn Tennis Club in London; qualifying will be played in Roehampton, England, June 25-26.
The following juniors have been accepted into the junior draws and will represent the United States:
U.S. Boys – Main Draw
U.S. Girls – Main Draw
Denis Kudla, Arlington, Va.
Sloane Stephens, San Pedro, Calif.
Tennys Sandgren, Gallatin, Tenn.
Christina McHale, Englewood Cliffs, N.J.
Evan King, Chicago
Beatrice Capra, Ellicott City, Md.
Alex Domijan, Wesley Chapel, Fla.
Nicole Gibbs, Manhattan Beach, Calif.
Mitchell Frank, Annandale, Va.
Harry Fowler, Houston
U.S Girls – Qualifying
Devin Britton, Jackson, Miss.
Julia Boserup, Boca Raton, Fla.
Alexandra Cercone, Seminole, Fla.
U.S. Boys – Qualifying
Sachia Vickery, Miramar, Fla.
Johannes Van Overbeek, Boca Raton, Fla.
Brooke Bolender, Delray Beach, Fla.
Jordon Cox, Duluth, Ga.
Britton, 18, recently became the youngest player to win the NCAA Division I Men’s Singles Championship in his first year at the University of Mississippi. Currently No. 45 in the ITF World Junior Rankings, Britton reached the boys’ singles final at the 2008 US Open. Stephens, 16, is the highest ranked American in the draw at a career-high No. 7 in the ITF World Junior Rankings, and is 16-1 this year on the ITF Junior Circuit, with her only loss coming in the semifinals of the Roland Garros Junior Championships. She recently won her first career ITF Grade A event at the Italian Open and reached the girls’ doubles final at the 2008 US Open.
King, 17, won the Boys’ 18s title at the Easter Bowl in April and is the reigning USTA Boys’ 18s National Clay Court Champion, while Kudla, 16, is the highest-ranked American boy at No. 13 in the ITF World Junior Rankings and won the Boys’ 16s title at the Dunlop Orange Bowl in December. McHale, 17, won the Girls’ 18s Easter Bowl title in April and won the Australian Open Girls’ doubles title, where she also made her Grand Slam debut in women’s singles. She is currently a career-high No. 10 in the ITF World Junior Rankings, while Vickery, 14, has two career ITF singles titles and is the youngest American competing in either draw.
Americans reached the boys’ and girls’ singles final at Wimbledon in 2007. Donald Young became the first American to win the Wimbledon Junior title since 1994, while Madison Brengle became the first American girl to reach the final since Chanda Rubin won the event in 1992.