ANTALYA will play host to the 2024 Junior Davis Cup and Billie Jean King Cup Finals after the Turkish city was announced by the International Tennis Federation (ITF) last last week. The 16 boys teams and 16 girls teams will take to the clay courts at the Megasaray Tennis Academy in Belek, Antalya.
The teams will compete in a round robin for the first three days of competition, which will be followed up by three further ties to determine placings from first until 16th. The reigning Davis Cup Junior champions are the Czech Republic, while the United States won last year’s Junior Billie Jean King Cup title.
Qualifying is still ongoing for the event, with the nine already qualified nations as follows:
Billie Jean King Cup: Australia, Canada, China, Egypt, Japan, Korea, USA, Turkey (host nation)
Davis Cup: Chinese Taipei, Egypt, Hong Kong, Japan, Kazakhstan, Mexico, South Africa, USA, Turkey (host nation)
The Asian qualification zone in March saw China defeat Japan in the final, with Australia finishing third and Korea fourth for the Billie Jean King Cup. Meanwhile in the Davis Cup, Japan won overall against host nation Kazakhstan, while Hong Kong finished third and Chinese Taipei finished fourth.
Meanwhile in April, the United States proved too strong in both competitions to stamp their ticket through the North/Central America & The Caribbean qualification stage. As one would expect the powerhouse nation finished top in the boys and girls competitions, with Canada finishing second in the Billie Jean King Cup qualification, and Mexico edging out the Maple Leafs in the Davis Cup qualification.
In the African qualification over the past week, South Africa and Egypt finished top two in both the boys and girls team competition. South African won the Davis Cup qualification tournament, while Egypt won the Billie Jean King Cup qualification tournament.
However while Egypt qualified as second place for the Davis Cup, the Billie Jean King Cup only has one African regional spot which means South Africa missed out. The additional team for the girls competition comes from the South American region, with three nations making it through as opposed to the boys’ two.
That tournament will be held from August 5-10, with it running parallel to the European qualification event from August 5-7 with the top five nations rounding out the 16-team event later this year.
