American Girls are Golden: Clinch ITF World Junior Tennis championship while the Boys fall to France

The stars of the future competed in the 2025 ITF World Junior Tennis, with the United States as the girls' champion, tying the Czech Republic and Russia as the all-time leaders in the category. The Americans, however, were unsuccessful on the boys' side, falling to France in the final.

The traditional ITF tournament featured 16 girls' and 16 boys' teams competing in the U-14 category during the last week of the Finals in Prostejov, Czechia, a city that also hosts some men's and women's Challenger tournaments throughout the season.

This time, it was the Finals of the ITF World Junior Tennis, which were held from August 4-9 and featured the USA in both finals. While the boys faced France, the girls' final was a North American classic with the USA facing Canada.

The French boys' team ended up surprising the favorites, the United States, after a pair of notable performances from their young stars. Mario Vukovic was the first on the court to defeat Indraw Vergne, while in the second match, Samuel Dakessian beat the American No. 1, Tristan Ascenzo, guaranteeing the victory without needing to go to the doubles match to decide the champion.

On the girls' side, the Americans were able to get revenge, defeating their northern neighbors, Canada, which earned them their eighth ITF Junior World Tennis title, with the tension alive until the end.

Canada started with the advantage from Tessa Peuten's victory over Olivia de los Reyes in the first match, but in the second, Emery Combs recovered from a set down to defeat Isabella Ruyu Yan and take everything to the decisive doubles match. This time, Combs and De los Reyes secured a convincing victory and won the trophy for the Americans in Prostejov, marking their first ITF Junior Girls' World Tennis title since 2017.

The ITF Junior Tour organizes tournaments around the world for the stars of the future and has been the stage that has catapulted several of the sport's great legends. Roger Federer, Martina Hingis, Ivan Lendl, Amelie Mauresmo, Andy Roddick, Gabriela Sabatini, and Marcelo Rios are some of the names that have stood out as champions of ITF Junior tennis.

ITF tournaments follow an organization similar to the professional Tour, with Grade A tournaments—equivalent to the Masters 1000s—and Grade 1 through 5 tournaments, depending on the category of the tournament. In addition, there are Junior Grand Slam tournaments, which are held in parallel with the main draws of the same tournaments. There is also an end-of-year Finals for the top 8 players of the season, while the ITF Junior World Cup is the equivalent of the Davis Cup and Billie Jean King Cup, but in the junior categories.