As the rain tumbled on Tuesday morning, out came the playing cards, which has been a common pastime for the Grand Slam Development Fund/ITF Touring Team during their time in Europe. Mafia is the game of choice.

Roberta Burzagli, the touring team’s lead coach, is not a huge fan, although she is very much an advocate of the unity and camaraderie which the cards have helped foster during the past six weeks.

“I have to say it is a really nice group,” Burzagli tells itftennis.com.

“Everyone is really supporting each other and when they are on court, the other members are all watching on streams. The support is really big. I have been doing this for 17 years and I have to say this year the spirit is as good as it’s ever been.”

The premise of the programme is that each year a group of talented junior players from developing nations are invited to join GSDF/ITF Touring Teams, which are financed through the Grand Slam Development Fund.

Those players then travel as part of a team, have access to GSDF coaches and gain exposure to higher level events than would otherwise be the case. It is a key development initiative and opens doors for aspiring players.

Most of those selected to travel to Europe this year have been on regional touring teams in younger age-group categories (14-and-under and 16-and-under) before progressing to international teams at 18-and-under level.

Selected to participate in the 2021 tour to Europe were: Alvaro Guillen (ECU), Daniel Vallejo (PAR), Joao Victor Couto Loureiro (BRA), Johan Rodriguez (COL), Priska Madelyn Nugroho (INA), Dana Guzman (PER), Julia Garcia (MEX) and Solana Sierra (ARG).

For this group, it all started on 31 May when they convened in Paris and joined Burzagli and fellow coaches Juan Manuel Esparcia and Carlos Valle, with preparations for the Roland Garros Junior Championships starting immediately.

It was Garcia and Couto Loureiro who had the most to celebrate on the clay courts of the French capital as both reached the second round and chalked up the first Junior Grand Slam match-wins of their careers. Incidentally, Couto Loureiro, who was making his Junior Grand Slam debut, navigated an all-touring team tussle with Guillen. 

From there, the team boarded a plane to London. Unfortunately, due to visa issues, Rodriguez was unable to travel to the United Kingdom, leaving seven playing members.

Upon arrival in London, the team quarantined at the Ibis Hotel in Earl’s Court before transferring to Roehampton University where they entered the Wimbledon Championships bubble, where they remain.

The focus now was the grass-court season and when action at J1 Roehampton started, it was Guzman and Vallejo who shone. Both reached the quarter-finals before succumbing to Victoria Jimenez Kasintseva, the top-ranked girl on the planet, and eventual winner Jack Pinnington Jones of Great Britain in their respective draws.

The Junior Championships, Wimbledon is the final stage of the tour. In normal, pre-pandemic, circumstances, the players would have contested more tournaments, but this year Covid restrictions limited them to just three. However, that has failed to stifle progress.

“Most of the players are from South America and they are coming from a less-advantaged region, especially in Covid times,” said Burzagli. “To come to Europe and compete is a big opportunity.

“For all of them, it is a great opportunity to play. It is also fantastic to be in a team environment and they learn a lot from one another. Away from the tennis, there has been an exchange of cultures which has been nice to see.

“There is a big Spanish-speaking group, with only Priska a non-Spanish speaker. Coming from Indonesia, she, of course, has a different culture. It has been great for her to teach the others about her culture, while she has been learning Spanish.”

Until this tour, Nugroho had not contested a junior match since winning the 2020 girls’ doubles at the Australian Open alongside Alexandra Eala of the Philippines. Not only has being a member of the team aided her playing prospects considerably, but the educational side of the tour has also allowed Nugroho to expand her mind.

“This is my fourth time as part of an international team and this time I am the only one who doesn’t speak Spanish,” she told itftennis.com. “They are teaching me Spanish and I have learned so much about South America and South American culture.

“I am really grateful for the opportunity to be in this environment and to be able to compete at Grand Slams and higher-level tournaments. Without the touring team, I wouldn’t be here playing a Junior Grand Slam. I love being in this team.”

According to Garcia, Nugroho’s Spanish-speaking skills are improving by the day, while the learning process is very much a two-way street.

“It’s a trade off,” Garcia told itftennis.com. “Priska has so much experience of Grand Slams and we have all learned so much from her. It’s perfect. She is also doing well learning Spanish from us. She’s picking it up well.”

The team dynamic, access to knowledgeable and experienced coaches and the ability to bounce ideas around on the practice courts have often been cited as valuable components of the tour.  

Previous players have spoken in glowing terms of their time on tour and how their games have developed, improved and matured within a matter of weeks. The same would seem to apply to the class of 2021.

“For sure, I have become a better player,” Guzman told itftennis.com. “I have learned a lot of things. Not only do I have the opinion of my own coach but from different coaches from all over the world. My game is better now.”

These are sentiments shared by Vallejo, who is yet to complete his first-round showdown with Ethan Quinn of the United States due to Tuesday's rain delays.

“This is a very united team and a unique experience,” he told itftennis.com. “I am very proud to be here and it has really helped me. I have become so much more professional, especially through training with Carlos, the fitness coach.

“Before, I didn’t even warm up before practice. Carlos helped me so much with mobility and Juan has been a big help too, whether during matches or by talking tactics beforehand.

“This team, we are always together as a group, whether playing cards or talking with the coaches. It is very fun. We speak a lot and share a lot of things and learn a lot about tennis and life itself. I will look back fondly.”

Self-development is key for Burzagli, who has seen thousands of players progress through the junior ranks and make their presence felt on some of the biggest stages of all.

She has also witnessed the likes of Victoria Azarenka and Jelena Ostapenko travel with touring teams before moving on to pastures new and winning Grand Slams.

But as Burzagli alluded to, there is something special about the spirit of the group currently in her charge, although much hard work awaits should any have designs on following in the footsteps of Azarenka and Ostapenko.

In the coming week, however, as the players begin to say their goodbyes and head home, she can once again be content in the knowledge that another already talented group has benefitted greatly from the touring team experience and are now better equipped for the future. As such, the last word is hers.

“For the players, travelling with the team is very different to travelling alone or with one coach,” she added. “In those circumstances you only schedule your own needs. In a team, there are times you have to be patient and wait your turn.

“The advantage of a team is you create competition, which brings more motivation, especially when doing things like fitness. We try to do most activities as a group as it is a way of motivating.

“We try to implement more routines also. For professional players this is obvious, but less so for juniors. In many ways this is the point, members of the touring team learn a lot about themselves.”