Issue link: http://itf.uberflip.com/i/916935
ITFWORLD WINTER 2017 29 www.itftennis.com U kraine's Marta Kostyuk is, at just 15 years old, already making quite a name for herself in the tennis world. The 2017 Australian Open junior champion is quickly gaining a reputation for a fearsome game on court and for being unafraid to speak her mind in interviews. It was perhaps unsurprising then that it was Kostyuk who gave one of the most thought-provoking interviews at the 2017 Junior Davis Cup and Junior Fed Cup by BNP Paribas Finals in Budapest in September. "Junior tennis doesn't really matter," she said, before going on to explain that some top junior players went on to establish themselves in the professional game, while for others their junior-level success is as good as it ever gets. A glance over the list of past Junior Davis and Fed Cup champions shows that there is some truth to what Kostyuk is saying. You will find a couple of all-time legends (look no futher than 2002 Junior Davis Cup winner, Rafael Nadal), a few who have been among the best of their generation (Tommy Robredo, Agnieszka Radwanska and Elena Dementieva, to name a few), and several solid tour- professionals — but there are plenty more names on the lists which even the most knowledgeable tennis fan would not recognise. So Kostyuk has a point — to some extent. But those who watched her and the other participants give their all as they represented their nations at the Finals in the Hungarian capital, and also saw the young players who competed at the 2017 ITF World Junior Tennis Finals in Prostejov in August, would be left in no doubt that The Czech Junior Davis Cup by BNP Paribas champions: captain Josef Cihak, Andrew Paulson, Jonas Forejtek and Dalibor Svrcina USA's Govind Nanda fell to Dalibor Svrcina in the final