Another fabulously enthralling season of junior tennis is drawing to a close and the final J500 tournament of the 2024 campaign – the prestigious Orange Bowl – will take place at Plantation, Florida from 9-15 December.

The Orange Bowl has an incredibly rich history and the list of players to have contested the event reads like a who’s who of tennis legends, with those on show this week keeping very good company. 

The likes of Andre Agassi, Jim Courier, Chris Evert, Roger Federer, Steffi Graf, Bjorn Borg, Ivan Lendl, Gabriela Sabatini, Andy Roddick, Mary Joe Fernandez, Monica Seles and Guillermo Vilas have all played the Orange Bowl.

In the last decade alone, future Grand Slam champions Coco Gauff, Bianca Andreescu and Sofia Kenin have all topped the Orange Bowl podium as part of their journey along the ITF player pathway.

As a reminder, J500s provide premier playing opportunities for players on the ITF World Tennis Tour Juniors and, in effect, are one rung below Junior Grand Slams.

The Orange Bowl is the last of seven J500s to take place in 2024, offering ambitious juniors the opportunity to secure the highest possible year-end ranking.

In terms of the year-end junior world No. 1 battle, which also means ITF World Champion status, Norway’s Nicolai Budkov Kjaer and Emerson Jones of Australia have that particular prize sewn up.

Nevertheless, there will be plenty of exhilarating tennis to catch a glimpse of during the coming week as aspiring juniors bid for late-season silverware at one of the most revered and respected junior tournaments on the circuit.

The likes of Czech duo Maxim Mrva and Jan Kumstat, Great Britain’s Charlie Robertson, Hoyoung Roh of Korea, Rep. and Amir Omarkhanov of Kazakhstan will be among those eyeing Orange Bowl silverware in the boys’ event.

In the girls’ competition, Japan’s Wakana Sonobe, Teodora Kostovic of Serbia, Kristina Penickova of the United States, Great Britain’s Hannah Klugman and Czech duo Alena and Jana Kovackova will no doubt be vying for success.

Klugman is back to defend the trophy she won 12 months ago. By winning the Orange Bowl last year, Klugman became the first girl from Great Britain to do so.

Follow all the action from J500 Plantation here.

Why it is so important to finish as high as possible in the ITF World Tennis Tour Junior Rankings?

The ITF has a number of initiatives in place to help reward the best performing juniors – boys and girls – by providing exposure to higher-level competition

Find out all there is to know about the Junior Accelerator Programme and Junior Reserved places.