Britain's Alfie Hewett and Lauren Jones are among 12 players named today by the International Tennis Federation as having qualified for the 2013 Cruyff Foundation Junior Masters, the premier international event for junior wheelchair tennis players, which will take place from 24 – 27 January in Tarbes, France.
Hewett, who turns 15 next month, will go into the prestigious event as the defending champion in the boys' singles and doubles after the Junior Masters kick-started what has been a tremendously successful 2012 for the Norfolk teenager.
At the start of this season he became just the second Brit to win the boys' singles at the Junior Masters, following Gordon Reid's triumphs in 2008 and 2009. He is among eight players named for the boys' singles at the event.
Hewett has gone on to win four senior men's singles titles this season at ITF Futures Series level and, aged just 14, has improved his senior world ranking to No. 56, as well as cementing his world No. 3 junior ranking. With the two players currently ranked above him ceasing to qualify as juniors as of the 1st January, Hewett is likely to become the world No. 1 ranked junior player in January.
Jones has also had a fine 2012 after narrowly missing out on winning the girls' doubles title on her Junior Masters debut at the start of the year. The Sussex 17-year-old has since gone on to become the youngest player ranked inside the top 50 of the women's singles senior world rankings as well as reaching a career best junior girls' world ranking of No. 3 in May this year.
Currently the No. 4 ranked junior girls' player, Jones is one of four players selected for the 2013 Junior Masters, with the current top three now all aged 18 and therefore ineligible for January's event in France.
"The Junior Masters at the beginning of 2012 gave Alfie the perfect start to what has been an exceptional year for him as he defeated a player almost four years older and ranked 85 places higher than him in the senior world rankings to claim that title," said Geraint Richards, the Tennis Foundation's Head of Disability Player Performance.
"Since then, Alfie and Lauren have continued to show their excellent potential winning a number of titles and to have them both qualify for the 2013 Junior Masters highlights the quality of the players we have coming through the Tennis Foundation's junior performance programme."
The tournament traditionally takes place alongside the last four days of Les Petits As, one of the leading tournaments for non-disabled players aged 12-14 years old.
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