Junior Tennis refers to tennis

Tennis

Tennis is a sport usually played between two players or between two teams of two players each . Each player uses a racket that is strung to strike a hollow rubber ball covered with felt over a net into the opponent's court. Tennis is an Olympic sport and is played at all levels of society at all...

 games where the participants are aged 18 and under. Eligibility to compete is not based on age, but year of birth: as a result, some players must move out of juniors soon after their 18th birthday, while others can play juniors until they are nearly 19. Some players who qualify as "junior tennis" players also play in main adult tours, though forms signed by their parent or guardian are required for this.

The ITF

The ITF conducts a junior tour, which allows juniors to establish a world junior ranking and give them a chance to get an ATP or WTA ranking. Most juniors who enter the international circuit have to do so by progressing through ITF tournaments, Satellites, Futures and Challenger tournaments before entering the main circuit, the latter three of which are also participated in by adults. However, some juniors, such as Australian Lleyton Hewitt

Lleyton Hewitt

Lleyton Glynn Hewitt born 24 February 1981) is an Australian professional tennis player and former world no. 1.In 2000, Hewitt had won ATP titles on all three major surfaces and reached one final on carpet. By 2001, he became the youngest male ever to be ranked no. 1 at the age of 20...

 and Frenchman Gaël Monfils

Gaël Monfils

Gaël Sébastien Monfils is a French professional tennis player. he was the highest-ranked French tennis player, ranked no. 7 in the world ATP rankings. He was the runner-up at the Paris Masters in 2009 and 2010 and a semifinalist at the 2008 French Open.-2002:In 2002, Monfils finished 24th at the...

, have catapulted directly from the junior tour to the ATP tour by dominating the junior scene or by taking advantage of opportunities given to them to participate in professional tournaments.

Rankings

In 2004, the ITF implemented a new rankings scheme to encourage greater participation in doubles, by combining two rankings (singles and doubles) into one combined tally. Junior tournaments do not offer prize money except for the Grand Slams. Juniors may earn income through tennis by participating on the Futures, Satellites or Challenger tours. Tournaments are broken up into different tiers offering different amounts of ranking points, culminating with Grade A and the junior Grand Slams - the most prestigious junior events, which also offer prize money.

Grand Slam and Grade A tournaments

The grand slam

Grand Slam (tennis)

The four Major tennis tournaments, also called the Slams, are the most important tennis events of the year in terms of world tour ranking points, tradition, prize-money awarded, strength and size of player field, and public attention. They are the Australian Open, the French Open, Wimbledon, and...

 touraments are the same for juniors as they are for the professional seniors, the Australian Open

Australian Open

The Australian Open is the only Grand Slam tennis tournament held in the southern hemisphere. The tournament was held for the first time in 1905 and was last contested on grass in 1987. Since 1972 the Australian Open has been held in Melbourne, Victoria. In 1988, the tournament became a hard court...

, French Open, Wimbledon, and the U.S. Open

U.S. Open (tennis)

The US Open, formally the United States Open Tennis Championships, is a hardcourt tennis tournament which is the modern iteration of one of the oldest tennis championships in the world, the U.S. National Championship, which for men's singles was first contested in 1881...

. In addition, there are five other prestigious junior tournaments, given Grade A status by the ITF. They are, in calender order, the Casablanca Cup, Gerdau Cup, Italian Open

Italian Open

Italian Open may refer to:*Italian Open , a Masters 1000 level tennis tournament played in Rome each year.*Italian Open , a golf tournament also known as the Telecom Italia Open for sponsorship reasons*Italian Open...

, Osaka Mayor's Cup

Osaka Mayor's Cup

-Boys Singles:-Boys Doubles:-Girls Singles:-Boys Doubles:...

, and the Orange Bowl

Dunlop Orange Bowl

The Orange Bowl International Tennis Championships, known since 2008 as the Dunlop Orange Bowl International Tennis Championships with Dunlop as the title sponsor, is a prestigious junior tennis tournament, one of only five that are rated by the ITF as 'Grade A'...

.

International team tournaments

The ITF has developed international junior tournaments; the boys tournament is named the "Junior Davis Cup by BNP Paribas", and the tournament for girls is named the "Junior Fed Cup".