Local Boca Raton Teen Selected to Represent U.S. at Prestigious Team Tennis Events
Top 14-and-Under Juniors Represent U.S. in Prestigious Les Petits As Le Mondial Lacoste and Junior International Teen Tennis Event
Boca Raton, FL – The USTA today announced the nine top 14-and- under juniors who will represent the U.S. in the renowned Les Petits As Le Mondial Lacoste event from January 23 – February 2 in Tarbes, France. The boys’ and girls’ team are also competing in the prestigious Junior International Teen Tennis in Bolton, England, this week.
The boys players are Kaylan Bigun (13, College Park, Md.; Coach: Ben Cappuccitti), Nikita Filin (13, Wilmette, Ill.; Coach: Mark Bey), Mitchell Lee (Oakland, Calif.; Coach: Max Taylor) and Alexander Razeghi (13, Humble, Texas; Coach: Sammy Giammalva). USTA National Coach Jon Glover will travel with and coach the boys.
The girls players are Maya Joint (13, Grosse Pointe, Mich.; Coach: Emily Kelley), Clervie Ngounoue (13, Washington, D.C.; Coach: Aime Ngounoue), Brooklyn Olson (13, Bradenton, Fla.; Coach: Ashley Hobson), Lexington Reed (13, Orlando; Coach: Jay Gooding) and Mia Slama (13, Boca Raton, Fla.; Coach: Marc Slama). USTA National Coach Lori Riffice will travel with and coach the girls.
All nine players were selected based on their results at a 16-person Les Petits As USA Playoffs that was held in October.
Both tournaments are renowned for their previous participants. Andy Murray, Kim Clijsters, Justine Henin and Caroline Wozniacki are among the previous finalists in Bolton, while a number of former Les Petits As champions have gone on to become No. 1 in the world, including Rafael Nadal, Clijsters and Martina Hingis.
Americans have had significant success in recent years. The U.S. has had five Les Petits As singles champions in the last nine years, including CiCi Bellis, in 2013, and Frances Tiafoe, in 2012.
Former American winners at Les Petits As also include Michael Chang, Donald Young, Bethanie Mattek-Sands, while Lindsay Davenport was a finalist, and 2017 US Open champion Sloane Stephens and finalist Madison Keys were both participants.
The USTA is the national governing body for the sport of tennis in the U.S. and the leader in promoting and developing the growth of tennis at every level — from local communities to the highest level of the professional game. A not-for-profit organization with more than 655,000 members, it invests 100% of its proceeds in growing the game. It owns and operates the US Open, one of the highest-attended annual sporting events in the world, and launched the US Open Series, linking seven summer WTA and ATP World Tour tournaments to the US Open. In addition, it owns approximately 90 Pro Circuit events throughout the U.S. and selects the teams for the Davis Cup, Fed Cup, Olympic and Paralympic Games. The USTA’s philanthropic entity, the USTA Foundation, provides grants and scholarships in addition to supporting tennis and education programs nationwide to benefit under-resourced youth through the National Junior Tennis & Learning (NJTL) network.For more information about the USTA, go to USTA.com or follow the official accounts on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and Snapchat.
