ITF

ITFWorld // WINTER 2018 33 Davis Cup and Junior Fed Cup sees lasting friendships formed and the same is true at our 12-and-under team competitions. While the focus of the competitions is very much on player development, the winners of the 2018 events deserve special mention. Congratulations to Argentina, Mexico, Morocco, South Korea and the Cook Islands – who won the boys' events in their respective regions – and to Canada, Mexico, Egypt, China and Samoa – girls' champions for 2018. So what of the future? The programme is entering its third year in 2019, and we are confident that it will continue to thrive for the long term. Since the beginning, the feedback from our member nations has been extremely positive and we cannot imagine the development programme and the player pathway in those regions without these events. We will look to further improve the competitions in the years to come and have already started to discuss this with the programme's financial backers. At this point I must pay tribute to the work of Bulat Utemuratov, ITF Board member and President of the Kazakhstan Tennis Federation, who from the very beginning wanted to make a difference and provide opportunities for young players. I would also like to recognise the Development Generation Task Force for all their efforts in bringing this idea to fruition. It has been a pleasure to see so many outstanding young tennis players in the early stages of their careers. I have no doubt that many will go on to have stellar careers – and when they do, I hope that they are able to look back with pride on these formative moments. ■ ABOVE: Argentina won the boys' event in the South America region China won the girls' event in Asia during 2018 Lasting friendships are made at the competitions

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