ITF

ITF JUNIOR CIRCUIT T he ITF Junior Circuit continued to expand in 2012, with 396 tournaments staged in 113 countries. Over 100 nations took part in the ITF's two junior team competitions, with more than 350 teams competing across the 14- and 16-and-under age groups. Filip Peliwo of Canada ended the year as world No. 1 and became the first Canadian boy to be crowned ITF World Champion. The 18-year-old became the first player since Mark Kratzmann in 1984 to reach all four junior Grand Slam finals in a calendar year, winning Wimbledon and the US Open. Taylor Townsend of USA secured both the singles and doubles trophies at the Australian Open. Those victories, along with the doubles titles she won at Wimbledon, the US Open and the Orange Bowl, became a platform for Townsend to end the year as world No. 1 and become the first American girl to 22 DEVELOPMENT be crowned ITF World Champion since 1982. Townsend also led USA to Junior Fed Cup by BNP Paribas glory, remaining undefeated throughout the Finals. Continuing the trend in recent years, the Junior Grand Slam singles events were won by seven different players. An additional nine players also won titles at the other five Grade A events on the circuit, with only Czech Republic's Katerina Siniakova claiming two Grade A titles in 2012. This demonstrates the ever-increasing depth of junior tennis. In the ITF junior team competitions, USA claimed its fourth World Junior Tennis title by winning the boys' event in Prostejov, Czech Republic. Slovak Republic became champions for the second time by defeating Great Britain to claim the girls' event. Italy was a first-time winner of the Junior Davis Cup by BNP Paribas competition in Barcelona,

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