After a successful run that included wins over No. 1 and No. 4 seeds, Junior Tennis Champions Center’s Andrew Fenty lost to No. 2 seed Nicola Kuhn (Spain) 6-3, 6-1 in the final of the Nike Junior International Teen Tennis tournament in Bolton, England.
Play will now shift to Tarbes, France, where Fenty will accompany the American contingency in playing Les Petit As. Literally translated as “small champions”, Les Petit As is one of the most esteemed tournaments for 13-year-olds in the world. It is considered the European equivalent of the Junior Orange Bowl stateside. Past champions include Rafael Nadal, Michael Chang, and Richard Gasquet. JTCC’s Francis Tiafoe won the tournament in 2012 after winning the Teen Tennis tournament in England.
The tournament also has the distinction of being a meeting ground for future rivals on the professional circuit. Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray played in the tournament as 13-year-olds, 10 years before meeting in the Australian Open final. Above is a video of Nadal and Gasquet playing in the 1999 tournament. Gasquet went on to win that year while Nadal won the next year.
With Kuhn also slated to appear at Les Petit As, Fenty will look to get another shot at beating the young Spaniard.
Qualifying matches for the tournament begin Saturday, with play lasting through January 26. To follow the action, visit TennisEurope.org.
