News & Features

by Colette Lewis, 13 September 2024

Special from Zoo Tennis

FLUSHING MEADOWS, N.Y. - No. 12 seed Rafael Jodar of Spain arrived in New York as the champion of the ITF J300 event in College Park, while unseeded Mika Stojsavljevic of Great Britain tackled the US Open Junior Championships after a loss in her second match at the ITF J300 tournament in Canada the previous week. Yet both emerged with their first junior slam titles after inspiring runs at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center, with Jodar defeating top seed Nicolai Budkov Kjaer 2-6, 6-2, 7-6(1) and Stojsavljevic downing No. 7 seed Wakana Sonobe of Japan 6-4, 6-4 in the finals.

Although Jodar had earned contender status with his title two weeks earlier, he faced the most formidable challenge imaginable: victories over the three previous 2024 boys slam champions.

In the quarterfinals, the 17-year-old defeated No. 2 seed and Roland Garros champion Kaylan Bigun of the United States 6-4, 6-7(7), 7-5 after trailing 5-3 in the final set. A straightforward 6-3, 6-1 win over No. 3 seed and Australian Open champion Rei Sakamoto of Japan in the semifinals left him with one more summit to conquer: Wimbledon champion Budkov Kjaer.

Budkov Kjaer had his own hurdles in reaching the final, with a 6-3, 1-6, 7-5 quarterfinal win over No. 5 seed Luca Preda of Romania the most demanding. His 6-3, 6-3 semifinal victory over an in-form Charlie Robertson of Great Britain put him on the brink of a second boys slam title in the same year, last accomplished by Chun-Hsin Tseng of Taiwan in 2018.

After a 45-minute delay in the start of play due to rain, Jodar came out nervous and error-prone, but soon found his form to take control of the second set, facing no break points, while breaking Budkov for the first time in the match in the Norwegian's final two service games of the second set.

"When I finish the first set, I just thought that I had to believe in myself," said Jodar, who credited better serving and better returning for his rebound. "I was in a final at US Open. I mean, it was for me a gift, no, to play a final."

Budkov Kjaer was not surprised by the return of Jodar's form.

"In the second set, he had, in a way, nothing to lose, so he started playing freely, and continued that in the third set," said Budkov Kjaer, who converted only one of his eight break point chances in the third set. "I felt in the third set, until the last few games, that I was the better player, had much more break points. It was a steal, in my opinion, that he won that third set."

Budkov Kjaer broke Jodar to take a 4-3 lead in the third set, but he was unable to hold onto it, with Jodar breaking back immediately on his third chance in the eighth game, the only break points he had in the final set. Budkov Kjaer then found himself with two chances to break at 4-all, only to face the distraction of the girls trophy ceremony on the adjacent court.

Jodar had worked his way back to ad-in after saving those two break points, but he wouldn't have an opportunity to convert the game point for more than five minutes, with the referee called to the court twice, as both players were reluctant to resume with the booming voice of the Master of Ceremonies at the girls ceremony impossible to ignore.

The standing-room-only crowd of 1,500 that had packed Court 11 to see the final five games of the sole match in progress grew impatient as well, expressing their unhappiness with the disruption with some boos and jeers. After a second visit by the referee, the chair umpire announced play would resume after the conclusion of the girls trophy presentation.

The delay seemed to affect Budkov Kjaer more than Jodar, who quickly got the point for a 5-4 lead when Budkov Kjaer couldn't get a first serve return in play.

"It was definitely a factor," said Budkov Kjaer. "In my opinion, extremely stupid to start the ceremony. They started (sound checks) in my 4-3 game that made me get broken. Then, I had the break points and they started the ceremony and that really threw me off."

Budkov Kjaer did regain his concentration to hold in a deuce game for 5-all and held again trailing 5-6 to force the tiebreaker, the first in a US Open boys final since current ATP chairman Andrea Gaudenzi of Italy beat Mikael Tillstrom of Sweden 6-2, 4-6, 7-6 for the title in 1990.

That's when the wheels came off for Budkov Kjaer, who was forced into errors by Jodar's aggressive play in the first few points and then began to miss wildly as the tiebreaker continued.

After some tentative play in the third, Jodar reset his focus, ignoring the biggest crowd he'd ever played in front of.

"I was not thinking about the next points. I was just thinking about the next shot," said Jodar, who moved to a career-high ITF ranking of 4 with the title. "That's the most important thing for me. For example, if I was serving, I just was thinking about the serve. Where should I serve the next point. That helped me a lot during the super-tiebreak when I was, I don't know, 6-1 or 7-1 up, I just tried to do the same as the points before."

Jodar said he has some thinking to do about his future in the wake of this title, the third for a Spanish boy in the past four years.

"Of course it's a big tournament for me, but the plans, I don't know, I don't know, to be honest," Jodar said, when asked about the likelihood of attending the University of Virginia in January. "I cannot tell you that I am going or that I am not going, because maybe, like, everything can happen."

Budkov Kjaer, whose outstanding year saw him go 15-3 in junior slams, understands how small the margins are at this level of the sport.

"Of course I'm extremely proud of the year and what I've achieved, but tennis is a brutal sport," said Budkov Kjaer, who solidified his No. 1 ranking with his runner-up finish. "You are happy when you win, extremely disappointed when you lose, and sometimes the losing affects you more than the winning."

Like Jodar, Stojsavljevic's best finish at a junior slam prior to last week was a Wimbledon quarterfinal, but unlike Jodar, who reached the final eight in London this year, she was a year removed from that result.

Yet it didn't take the 15-year-old six-footer long to announce herself as a contender, beating two-time 2024 junior slam finalist Emerson Jones of Australia 7-5, 6-4 in the third round. After a 6-2, 7-6(3) quarterfinal victory over 14-year-old wild card Annika Penickova of the United States, Stojsavljevic faced No. 3 seed Iva Jovic, who had reached the second round in women's singles the previous week. Jovic had amassed a following of fans who had seen the 2024 USTA National 18s champion beat WTA No. 42 Magda Linette of Poland 6-3, 6-4 and push No. 29 seed Ekaterina Alexandrova of Russia to the brink before falling 4-6, 6-4, 7-5.

Stojsavljevic wasn't intimidated, playing what she called the best set of tennis of her life to start the match and holding off Jovic's comeback for a 6-0, 3-6, 6-3 victory.

Sonobe defeated No. 4 seed and College Park champion Teodora Kostovic of Serbia for the third time in the past 10 months in the quarterfinals 6-3, 6-4 and No. 8 seed Mimi Xu of Great Britain, who had eliminated No. 2 seed Tyra Grant of the United States 7-5, 4-6, 7-5 in the quarterfinals, 6-4, 6-4 in the semifinals.

Stojsavljevic, who at 15 years and eight months, is the youngest girls champion since Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova of Russia in 2006, had beaten Sonobe in New York last year in the first round 0-6, 6-4, 6-4. This year, she got off to a much better start against Sonobe, who said she was expecting more pace from Stojsavljevic, who had also beaten Sonobe in the first round of Wimbledon in 2023.

Stojsavljevic pointed to nerves, the breeze, and her desire to control her power as a possible explanation for Sonobe's observation.

"I think I just started off trying to be more consistent at the start," said Stojsavljevic, who trains with David Brewer at the Loughborough Tennis Academy. "Obviously in a final, you want to just get into it a little bit. But I think I was consistently getting good depth. It was a bit windy out there, so I think that could have changed things. But I think my pace was good enough."

After double faulting to give back the break she'd earned at 2-1 in the first set, Stojsavljevic got another to go up 4-3 and held on to it, despite a subpar serving performance by her standards during the week, making just 59 percent of her first serves and double faulting four times. Her serving stats didn't improve in the second set, but Stojsavljevic broke in the opening game and kept the lead despite the always dangerous ball striking of Sonobe.

Sonobe kept herself in the match with holds in her next three service games, but serving at 3-5, was forced to save a match point at 30-40 before holding for 5-4.

Stojsavljevic closed as if she had years of experience in junior slam finals, making every first serve and hitting three backhand winners, two ground strokes and one volley, to give herself the luxury of three more match points. She converted immediately with a deep forehand forcing an error, then fell to her knees in celebration of her dream run to a US Open title.

"I think it was not something that I maybe expected, but I'm super happy," said Stojsavljevic, who rose to No. 8 in the ITF junior rankings with the title. "I think I'm still in a little bit of shock. I haven't had much time to process it yet, but I'm super grateful for it."

Sonobe, who, like Stojsavljevic, has two more years to play juniors if she wishes, is not certain of her plans after reaching a first junior slam final, but was satisfied with her week.

"I learned a lot of things throughout this week," said Sonobe, through the translation of her IMG Academy coach Ryuji Hirooka. "I was able to enjoy the environment; grand slams are a little bit different, nervousness and everything, but I could enjoy it."

While the singles finals were in progress, so too were the doubles championships. With the forecast calling for rain, which did arrive later in the afternoon, simultaneous finals were unavoidable.

The unseeded team of Malak El Allami of Morocco and Emily Sartz-Lunde of Norway won the girls doubles championship, beating unseeded Julie Pastikova of the Czech Republic and Julia Stusek of Germany 6-2, 4-6, 10-6.

Playing together for the first time at Wimbledon this year, El Allami and Sartz-Lunde lost in the second round to eventual finalists Xu and Stojsavljevic, but were encouraged by their level and excited for their last chance at a junior slam.

They avenged that loss to Xu and Stojsavljevic in the quarterfinals 7-5, 2-6, 10-8, after also taking out No. 3 seeds Sonobe and Alena Kovackova of the Czech Republic 6-2, 2-6, 10-7 in the first round.

"It was not our first tiebreak, so we were prepared," said El Allami, a freshman at Columbia and the first girl from Morocco to win a junior slam title. "We went with our strategy, went point by point and we were both bringing positive energy, kept believing, and we managed to pull it off."

Sartz-Lunde, who started her freshman year at Michigan last month, had a trick to keep the pressure off when she served for the match at 9-5.

"We had a couple of nerves, but I think we handled it pretty well," said Sartz-Lunde, the first girl from Norway to win a junior slam title. "I kept telling myself we're actually not going to 10, we're going to 20, so I wouldn't feel any pressure serving for it. I was thinking there was so much left."

Sartz-Lunde finished with her best serve of the match, and hit a cross-court backhand angle winner off the return to deliver the title.

"I was grateful for her doing all the job on the point," said El Allami, who had the vocal support of her Columbia teammates throughout the match.

Both El Allami and Sartz-Lunde hope their title can help inspire the girls in their respective countries.

"It's an honor and I'm very proud to say it," El Allami said. "I hope it encourages people back home to keep dreaming big and working hard to represent Morocco at the highest stages, do what they love most, be happy and make everyone proud."

"I hope it motivates the kids back home to try and practice," said Sartz-Lunde, who grew up playing mixed doubles with boys finalist Kjaer.

To celebrate the first US Open girls doubles title by an unseeded team since Ena Shibahara and Jada Hart in 2016, El Allami and Sartz-Lunde revealed plans for some good food, but were heading right back to their respective campuses to catch up on the classes they had missed.

The boys doubles title went to top seeds Rei Sakamoto of Japan and Max Mrva of the Czech Republic, who beat the unseeded team of Denis Petak of the Czech Republic and Flynn Thomas of Switzerland 7-5, 7-6(1).

Up 4-2 in the second set, Sakamoto and Mrva, playing together for the first time, lost their next two service games, but broke back and forced a tiebreaker, which they won going away.

"When it's 6-1 and he's on serve, it's impossible to lose," said Mrva.

Sakamoto wasn't ready to endorse that sentiment, but he did say Mrva's personality helps them as a team.

"This guy makes me so loose," said Sakamoto, who claimed he wasn't convinced they could win the tournament until they won the last point.

"We were getting better, but together we're a good pair, but I played so bad, wasn't playing really good," said Mrva. "But when I play with him I'm relaxed."

Mrva and Sakamoto saved a match point in their 5-7, 6-4, 13-11 quarterfinal win over American wild cards Nikita Filin and Matisse Farzam, so they understood how fortunate they were to play for the title.

As for winning a second junior slam title as bookends to 2024, Sakamoto pronounced his year "not too bad."

Unseeded Charlie Cooper of the United States won the junior wheelchair singles title, beating No. 2 seed Ivar van Rijt of the Netherlands 7-6(2), 6-3 in the final.

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About Colette Lewis

Colette Lewis has covered topflight U.S. and international junior events as a freelance journalist for over a decade. Her work has appeared in Tennis magazine, the Tennis Championships magazine and the US Open program. Lewis is active on Twitter, and she writes a weekly column right here at TennisRecruiting.net. She was named Junior Tennis Champion for 2016 by Tennis Industry Magazine.

Lewis, based out of Kalamazoo, Michigan, has seen every National Championship final played since 1977, and her work on the tournament's ustaboys.com website led her to establish ZooTennis, where she comments on junior and college tennis daily.