Boys & Girls: 2013 French Open preview

DavidC · Tennis legend

Boys & Girls: 2013 French Open preview

DavidC · Tennis legend

In the girls event we should have at least 2 in the main draw for the first time since 2009 (when Hannah James and Steph Cornish joined Heather and Laura) They will do well to make a major impression given that 29 of the top 30 have entered (just Francoise Abanda missing), including many who have grown up on clay, such as Ana Konjuh, Katerina Siniakova and Belinda Bencic

Girls MD

21 Katy Dunne
27 Katie Boulter

QD

23 Harriet Dart
24 Isabelle Wallace

ALTS

39 Jazzi Plews

etc.

steven · Tennis legend

Thanks. That reminds me, I meant to tweet those last night when Zootennis tweeted that the lists were out. Can't remember now why I didn't in the end but better late than never!

DF · Tennis legend

Nice to see that we have contestants in the boys AND the girls competition this year.

Good luck to our young players!

steven · Tennis legend

Yes, that's true, I hope they all actually play.

Meant to say, David's knowledge of how the junior slam seedings work is very impressive. Makes Davis Cup look simple to understand (which of course it is, except for media types desperate not to understand it LOL, but still)

korriban · Challenger level

David. Quinzi is already at 460 in the pro rankings. Kyle will overtake him next week but Quinzi is having another storming week in a $10k in Egypt, already in the QF, likely to make at least the semi which would put him ahead again. Not sure when the precise cut-off date is, but it could be down to who has the better week this week!!! Another bit of excitement, although it probably makes little difference since both would be seeded 5-8 anyway I guess - if Kyle can avoid Kyrgios and Quinzi, would be the best result possible - less worried about the rest.

Spectator · All-time great

Statisticians ... is it common to have no less than three juniors ranked already within 450 by the time of the French Open? Or is this unusual?

DavidC · Tennis legend

For both Gianluigi and Kyle it is at the moment borderline whether they will be in the top 450 in the w/c 27/5 rankings which determine seedings (Quinzi drops a couple of points from last year). I don't know whether Quinzi plays next week to have a chance of further points.

Regarding Spectator's question I can only comment on the last decade when it has happened at least twice. Using the archived historical junior ATP rankings on TennisForum (from 2007) it is possible to deduce that the last occasion was 2010: Krajinovic, Harrison, Tomic (all inside 300) and Bhambri. However none of those 4 actually took part in the French Open that year, so that aspect could be a rarity this year. 2010 corresponds to a particularly good junior crop (1992) in their final year. There weren't any other years since 2007 with 3 inside 450 by May as far as I can see so the next likely candidate is 2005 (1987) when Djokovic, Murray and Del Potro (1988) were all inside 450, possibly with others but I don't have any comprehensive records to check for that. Djokovic didn't play the French that year though.

Spectator · All-time great

Thanks, David C. You've confirmed the suspicion behind the question, which was that years when this happens might well be years when you had a number of juniors who were of the "special" (ie likely to go to the top) variety. Hope that is the case with this year's cohort as well.

DavidC · Tennis legend

The rankings which will be used for seeding purposes are out. On the boys side Alexander Zverev became the youngest ever boys singles champion in Milan and moves up to 4 behind Nick Kyrgios, Nikola Milojevic and Laszlo Djere., If there are no withdrawals (Kyrgios may, like Andy Murray at Wimbledon in 2005, if he continues to progress in the Mens singles, having dispatched Radek Stepanek in 3 tiebreaks today) then Kyle should join Gianluigi Quinzi, Filippo Baldi and Borna Coric as 5-8 seeds Cameron drops to 14 but should still be a minor seed.

There has only been 1 withdrawal from the main draw so far, so Luke is first alternate (unlikely that both Special Exempts will be used though ). Jonny has just moved into qualifying.

Katy debuts in the top ten at number 9. Belinda Bencic won in Milan to move up to 2 behind Ana Konjuh