NEXT week the 2021 Junior Davis Cup kicks off, with the future of the ATP Tour on show in Antalya, Turkey. The past winners of the Junior Davis Cup include Canadian duo Felix Auger-Aliassime and Denis Shapovalov, and Spanish sensation Carlos Alcaraz. We take a look at the sides who have qualifier and how they might fare.

>> JUNIOR BILLIE JEAN KING CUP PREVIEW

The biggest lead-up event to the Junior Davis Cup is the World Junior Tennis Finals which took place in August on the clay at Prostejov, Czech Republic. Remarkably Italy cruised through to be the most complete side, one of three teams to be undefeated during the tournament, but after failing to qualify for the Davis Cup. Fellow undefeated side in that tournament Switzerland also failed to qualify for the Davis Cup. Instead, home nation Czech Republic finished on top of the table and went through undefeated, with Jan Kumstat winning eight of a possible 10 matches, and Maxim Mrva six of eight. They took care of Germany for a second time – after winning their group – this time sweeping them 2-0 in the playoffs, by winning against Max Schoenahus and Lieven Mietusch.

Russia stormed through its group stage against relatively weaker opponents in Egypt, Canada and Thailand, though all three qualified through their respective Davis Cup regional qualifying events. Egypt finished second, Canada third and Thailand last in the group, with Timofei Derepasko (eight of nine) and Egor Pleshivtsev (eight of 10) the main winners throughout the group stage. The Egyptians qualified for the Davis Cup thanks to winning their group and playoff tie against Tunisia with the top two sides in the African qualifying event. The home nation at Cairo only dropped one runner and won 22 of a possible 26 sets to claimed an easy win. Tunisia was the clear next bet, only bowing out to Egypt but taking care of Nigeria, Uganda and Namibia. Ahmed Yasser Hosni, Hady Elkordy and Abdelrahman Argoun made light work of their opposition for the home nation, with Yessine Kerouat and Anas Bennour Dit Sahli both impressing for Tunisia.

Three South American nations will contest the Junior Davis Cup, with Brazil and Argentina playing out a thriller in the playoff final. Brazil won 2-1 thanks to Matheus Lima who claimed a singles victory over Argentinian Nicolas Eli, after teammate Luis Felipe Carvalho lost to Gonzalo Zeitune. Lima then teamed up in the doubles with Henrique Brito and won against Eli and Zeitune to grab an important advantage ahead of the Davis Cup. Chile became the third side to qualify from the region after defeating Peru in the best of the second side’s playoffs, beating Paraguay, Bolivia and Venezuela in their group. Francisco Duran and Benjamin Torrealba did the bulk of the heavy lifting for Chile in that qualifying performance. Meanwhile in the much smaller North/Central America group, Mexico and Canada qualified over next best, El Salvador and Costa Rica. Santiago Padilla Cote went undefeated for Mexico, with Rodrigo Pacheco (four of five) equal with Canadian Stefan Simeunovic.

France could load up on its best side with a whopping nine players inside the Top 100 in ITF Juniors, Though as the Junior Davis Cup is for Under 16s, 83rd ranked Gabriel Debru is the highest who qualifies, followed by Antoine Ghibaudo. Bulgaria also qualified and could look to Adriano Dzhenev as the main player, ranked 245th in the world, while home nation Turkey will be heavy underdogs with 15-year-old Atakan Karahan the highest ranked player at 606th in the world. Japan has a good chance rom the Asian nations if Lennon Roark (2005-born) players, ranked inside the Top 150, whilst Korea has a couple of developing talents with limited exposure just outside the Top 500. Hong Kong’s top two eligible players are ranked outside the Top 700 and will enter the tournament as huge underdogs.

Expect Russia, Czech Republic and Germany to challenge France as a main contender, with Argentina and Brazil favoured by the Turkish clay.

JUNIOR DAVIS CUP TEAMS:

Argentina
Brazil
Bulgaria
Canada
Chile
Czech Republic
Egypt
France
Germany
Hong Kong
Japan
Korea
Mexico
Russia
Tunisia
Turkey

Picture credit: Srdjan Stevanovic