American Juniors – Future Champions or Pretenders?

Taylor Fritz’s win in the 2015 U.S. Open Boys’ Juniors marked the third consecutive Grand Slam won by an American boy in 2015. The finals were a repeat of the French Open; however, Fritz defeated countryman Tommy Paul in their most recent matchup in the finals.

For the record, Russian Roman Safiullin won the Australian Open. Tommy Paul won the French Open, and Reilly Opelka captured the Wimbledon title.

Overall the 15 American boys had a 24-14 win-loss record in the U.S. Open.

American Boys 1st Round 0-1 2nd Round 1-1 3rd Round 2-1 Quarters 3-1 Semis 4-1 Finals 5-1/6-0
Taylor Fritz W
Ulses Blanch X
Alex Rybakov X
Vasil Krikov X
Patrick Krypson X
Ganni Ross X
Reilly Opelka X
Tommy Paul X
Nathan Ponwith X
Sam Riffice X
Eduardo Nava X
Alexandre Rotsaeart X
Jeff Wolf X
Michael Mmoh X
William Blumberg X
Total W-L 9-6 6-3 4-2 2-2 2-0 1-1

Overall the 19 American girls were impressive, but not quite as dominant as the boys. Their combined win-loss record was 19-19.

Sofia Kenin reached the finals before bowing out to Hungarian Dalma Galfi in the finals. This was the first time a Hungarian had won the U.S. Open – Girls Juniors.

In addition to having Kenin in the finals, Francesca DiLorenzio was defeated in the semifinals and Kylie McKenzie lost in the quarterfinals.

American Girls 1st Round 0-1 2nd Round 1-1 3rd Round 2-1 Quarters 3-1 Semis 4-1 Finals 5-1/6-0
Abigail Desiatnikov X
Alexa Graham X
Tornado Alicia Black X
Sofia Kenin X
Kelly Chen X
Kylie McKenzie X
Amanda Anisinova X
Natasha Subhash X
Claire Liu X
Hurricane Tyra Black X
Ravenna Kingsley X
Francesca DiLorenzo X
Michaela Gordon X
Kayla Day X
Usue Maitane Arconada X
Caty McNally X
Carson Branstine X
Ingrid Neel X
Alexsandra Sanford X
Total W-L 9-10 4-5 3-1 2-1 1-1 0-1

American tennis fans should be encouraged by the increased number of solid junior boys and girls and the success they enjoyed in 2015.

Will the current group of American juniors move on to be the next round of journeymen? Or, will some of them make the transition to the professional game and become the Grand Slam champions of the next decade?

Next stop, 2016!