WHITE PLAINS, N.Y., April 25, 2013 – The USTA announced that Stefan Kozlov and Francis Tiafoe, two 15-year-olds ranked among the Top 100 juniors in the world, are among the top young Americans who will represent the U.S. in Junior Davis Cup and Junior Fed Cup by BNP Paribas (16-and-under) and the boys’ and girls’ World Junior Tennis Competition (14-and-under) North/Central American and Caribbean Final, May 2-4, in Montreal, Canada.
This round of each premier world team competition serves as regional qualifying for the World Finals; the top two teams from each division advance through round-robin play to compete in the World Finals. The Junior Davis Cup and Junior Fed Cup Finals will be held September 24-29 in San Luis Potosi, Mexico. The World Junior Tennis Finals will be August 5-10 in Prostejov, Czech Republic.
Junior Davis Cup
Stefan Kozlov, 15 Pembroke Pines, Fla.
Francis Tiafoe, 15, College Park, Md.
Henrik Wiersholm, 16, Kirkland, Wash.
Coach: Nicolas Todero
Junior Fed Cup
Nicole Frenkel, 15, Winchester, Mass.
Jessica Ho, 16, Wexford, Pa.
Katerina Stewart, 15, Miami
Coach: Freddy Rodriguez
World Junior Tennis – Boys
Patrick Kypson (pictured above), 13, Greenville, N.C.
Sam Riffice, 14, Roseville, Calif.
Gianni Ross, 14, Burr Ridge, Ill.
Coach: Andy Brandi
World Junior Tennis – Girls
CiCi Bellis, 14, Atherton, Calif.
Michaela Gordon, 13, Los Altos Hills, Calif.
Claire Liu, 12, Thousand Oaks, Calif.
Coach: Richard Ashby
Kozlov, currently No. 19 in the world junior rankings for players ages 18 and under, is the youngest player in the Top 20, while Tiafoe (No. 82) is one of only nine players age 15 and under in the Top 100. Kozlov helped lead the U.S. to a third-place Junior Davis Cup finish last year, while Tiafoe helped the U.S. to World Junior Tennis gold in 2012.
The U.S. also won its second Junior Fed Cup title last year (the other coming in 2008). In all, the U.S. has won two Junior Davis Cup titles (1999, 2008), four World Junior Tennis boys titles (2002-03, 2008, 2012) and five World Junior Tennis girls titles (1992, 2007-10).
Former U.S. junior international team members include Jim Courier, Andy Roddick, James Blake, Sloane Stephens, Christina McHale and Lindsay Davenport. Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic have also represented their countries in junior international team competition.
