Junior Tennis Champions Center

Last updated
Junior Tennis Champions Center
Type 501(c)(3) nonprofit
Founded1999
Headquarters College Park, Maryland
Key people
Ray Benton (CEO)
Website www.jtcc.org

The Junior Tennis Champions Center (JTCC) is a tennis training center and preparatory school in College Park, Maryland. [1] Founded in 1999, JTCC trains junior, collegiate and professional tennis players.

Contents

The center hosts United States Tennis Association (USTA) and International Tennis Federation (ITF) Junior World Tour events, and serves as the training center for the University of Maryland's women's tennis team. [2]

The center has 17 outdoor courts and 15 indoor courts, including hardcourts, Har-Tru courts, and red clay courts. [3] [2]

History

The center court at JTCC JTCC Tennis.png
The center court at JTCC

JTCC was founded in 1999 by investment banker Ken Brody. [3] The school was incorporated as a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization meant to serve Washington, D.C., and its Maryland suburbs of Montgomery County and Prince George’s County. [4] Rather than recruiting players from around the country and world, like some tennis academies, the center aims to discover and harvest the best tennis talent from the Washington metropolitan area, JTCC officials said in 2014. [3]

JTCC began operating with 40 recruited junior tennis players from the Mid-Atlantic region.

From 1999 to 2010, future World No. 10 Frances Tiafoe often stayed at the center five nights a week, sleeping in a back room with his brother and his father, the center's head of maintenance. Tiafoe attended school and was coached by the staff at the center. [5]

By 2004, JTCC had demonstrated enough success in junior tennis to earn a designation as a USTA Regional Training Center. [6]

JTCC reached a multi-year agreement with Fila in 2013. As a result of this agreement, Fila has a shop at JTCC and top JTCC players are provided with Fila apparel for junior tournaments. [7]

In 2013 and 2018, JTCC received the USTA's USA Developmental Program of the Year Award for training youth tennis players. [8]

Tournaments held

The center has hosted various USTA regional tournaments. It hosts the Wayne K. Curry Prince George’s County International Junior Tennis Championships, an ITF Junior World Tour Grade 1 event. [9] [10] The tournament has drawn numerous future professional tennis players including Daniil Medvedev, Stefanos Tsitsipas, Denis Shapovalov, Reilly Opelka, Felix Auger-Aliassime, Frances Tiafoe, Casper Ruud, Tommy Paul, Sebastian Korda, Coco Gauff, Sofia Kenin and Claire Liu. [11] [4]

JTCC also hosts the ITA Bedford Cup Mid-Atlantic Championships, which is an NCAA Division I women's tennis tournament that draws teams from around the country. Participating schools have included the University of Maryland, University of Delaware, Georgetown University, James Madison University and George Washington University. [12]

Programs

Community outreach

Since 2009, JTCC has run the GEICO Game On! program, which brings JTCC coaches to inner-city schools and recreation centers to teach at-risk children how to play tennis. [13]

High Performance program

The High Performance program has four components: Full Time, Champs I, Champs II, and Junior Champs. [14] Each group has players between ages 6 and 18, and trains for collegiate recruitment.

School

JTCC uses the Laurel Springs School as its distance schooling program. [15] Players in the Full Time High Performance program usually are enrolled in the program to help maximize training time. The school claims[ citation needed ] that "every student who has graduated from JTCC’s Champions program has earned a scholarship to a Division I program or a facilitated acceptance at a Division III or Ivy League college or university and/or have pursued careers in professional tennis." There are two teachers that teach in-person and full-time at JTCC.

The program's graduates have gone on to attend all the Ivy League colleges, Stanford, Chicago, Virginia, UCLA, Illinois, North Carolina, Maryland, Penn State, Michigan, Texas, Georgia Tech, Carnegie Mellon, Emory, Rice, Duke, Georgetown, George Washington, Notre Dame, Wake Forest and many other colleges and universities. [16]

Notable alumni

JTCC has trained numerous NCAA college tennis players, including NCAA Division I, II, and III champions and All-American players.

The center has also trained professional tennis players during professional events, including the US Open Series' Washington Open, the ATP 500, and WTA International tournament at the nearby William H.G. FitzGerald Tennis Center.

Tiafoe EBN17 (3) (35716381482).jpg
Frances Tiafoe trained at JTCC since he was 4 years old
Kudla RG19 (18) (48199191087).jpg
Denis Kudla trained at JTCC since age 10.

Notable staff

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Laura Granville</span> American tennis player

Laura Granville is a former American professional tennis player. During the two years she spent at Stanford University, she set the record for most consecutive singles victories with 58 and finished with an overall record of 93–3. Granville won the NCAA Championship in singles as well as the ITA Player of the Year in both 2000 and 2001.

Junior tennis refers to tennis matches where the participants are aged 18 and under. Eligibility to compete in International Tennis Federation Junior tournaments 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. Historically, some junior players will turn professional at the age of 16 like Andre Agassi or Pete Sampras.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Michael Russell (tennis)</span> American tennis player

Michael Craig Russell is an American former professional tennis player, and tennis coach. He reached a career-high singles ranking of World No. 60 in August 2007. His 23 United States Tennis Association (USTA) Pro Circuit singles titles were the all-time record, as of November 2013. That month he became the American No. 3.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nicholas Monroe</span> American tennis player

Benjamin Nicholas Monroe is an American former professional tennis player. Monroe was a doubles specialist. He reached a career-high ATP doubles ranking of No. 30 on 2 October 2017 and won four ATP Tour doubles titles and thirteen ATP Challenger Tour titles in his career.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Katrina Adams</span> American tennis player

Katrina M. Adams is an American tennis executive and former professional tennis player from Chicago. She was president and CEO of the United States Tennis Association and chair of the US Open, as well as the chair of the International Tennis Federation Fed Cup and Gender Equality in Tennis committees. As a player, Adams was a doubles specialist, reaching the quarterfinal stage or better at all four Grand Slams as well as achieving a career-high doubles ranking of no. 8. Her book, Own the Arena: Getting Ahead, Making a Difference, and Succeeding as the Only One was published in 2021.

Mareen "Peanut" Louie-Harper is a retired American tennis player, born in San Francisco, California to Ron and Alice Louie. She was a top-ranked junior tennis player and professional tennis player on the WTA tour. She reached a career high singles ranking of 19 in the world in 1985 and doubles ranking of 31 in the world in 1992. She is currently the co-founder and program director of Harper for Kids, a youth character development program.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Taylor Townsend</span> American tennis player (born 1996)

Taylor Townsend is an American professional tennis player. She has been ranked as high as world No. 61 in singles by the WTA, which she first achieved in July 2018, and she attained her career-high doubles ranking of world No. 5 in June 2023. A four-time doubles title holder on the WTA Tour, Townsend has also reached two major finals: the 2022 US Open and the 2023 French Open.

Martin Blackman is a former professional tennis player from the United States. He later represented Barbados.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rhyne Williams</span> American tennis player

Robert Rhyne Williams is an American tennis player. He has not played on the ATP Tour since 2018 and is currently a tennis coach at the University of Tennessee.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Frances Tiafoe</span> American tennis player (born 1998)

Frances Tiafoe Jr., is an American professional tennis player. Tiafoe won his first of three ATP titles at the 2018 Delray Beach Open, becoming the youngest American man to win a tournament on the ATP Tour since Andy Roddick in 2002. He won his second title on clay at the 2023 U.S. Men's Clay Court Championships in Houston and his third on grass in 2023 Stuttgart. He reached his career high at world No. 10 in singles on June 19, 2023, and world No. 160 in doubles on November 1, 2021. On June 19, 2023, he became the first Sierra Leonean American and only the third Black American man to be ranked in the top 10 by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP), after Arthur Ashe and James Blake.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Noah Rubin (tennis)</span> American tennis player

Noah Rubin is an American former professional tennis player. He is a former Wimbledon junior singles champion, and a former USTA junior national champion in both singles and doubles. After turning pro in 2015, he won four ATP Challenger titles.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Claire Liu</span> American tennis player

Claire Liu is an American professional tennis player. On 30 January 2023, she reached her career-high singles ranking of world No. 52 by the WTA.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Emil Ruusuvuori</span> Finnish tennis player (born 1999)

Emil Ruusuvuori is a Finnish professional tennis player. He reached a career high ATP singles ranking of World No. 37 on 3 April 2023. He is currently the No. 1 Finnish singles tennis player. He has a career-high doubles ranking of World No. 179 achieved on 2 May 2022.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Caroline Dolehide</span> American tennis player

Caroline Dolehide is an American professional tennis player. She achieved a career-high ranking of world No. 99 in May 2023 and a doubles ranking of No. 21 in May 2022. She has won one WTA Tour and one WTA 125 doubles titles as well as 18 titles on the ITF Women's Circuit, eight in singles and ten in doubles. Her best performances on the WTA Tour came in doubles at the 2019 and the 2022 US Open events where she reached semifinals with Vania King and Storm Sanders, respectively, and also at the 2021 Wimbledon Championships.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sebastián Báez</span> Argentine tennis player

Sebastián Báez is an Argentine professional tennis player.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Eliot Spizzirri</span> American tennis player (born 2001)

Eliot Spizzirri is an American tennis player. Spizzirri has a career-high ATP singles ranking of No. 620 on 25 July 2022 and a doubles ranking of No. 795 on 13 September 2021. Spizzirri won the 2019 US Open – Boys' doubles title with fellow American Tyler Zink.

The thirty-first edition of the ATP Masters Series. The champion of each Masters event is awarded a 1,000 rankings points.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Robin Montgomery</span> American tennis player

Robin Montgomery is an American professional tennis player. She has a career-high WTA singles ranking of No. 143, achieved on 17 July 2023, and a best doubles ranking of No. 165, achieved on 7 March 2022. She has won three singles and four doubles titles on the ITF Women's World Tennis Tour.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nuno Borges (tennis)</span> Portuguese tennis player

Nuno Borges is a Portuguese tennis player. Borges has a career high ATP singles ranking of world No. 63 achieved on 10 April 2023 and a doubles ranking of world No. 69 achieved on 19 September 2022. Borges has a career high ITF juniors ranking of World No. 44 achieved on 13 April 2015. He is currently the No.1 ranked Portuguese player.

Carlos Alcaraz defeated Casper Ruud in the final, 6–4, 2–6, 7–6(7–1), 6–3 to win the men's singles tennis title at the 2022 US Open. It was his first major title, and he claimed the world No. 1 singles ranking with the win. Ruud, Rafael Nadal, Daniil Medvedev, and Stefanos Tsitsipas were also in contention for the top position. Alcaraz saved a match point en route to the title, in the quarterfinals against Jannik Sinner.

References

  1. ↑ "About Junior Tennis Champions Center - College Park, Maryland". JTCC. Retrieved 2021-06-05.
  2. 1 2 "Year-Round Tennis Facilities in College Park, MD". JTCC. Retrieved 2021-06-05.
  3. 1 2 3 4 Rothenberg, Ben (6 January 2014). "A Frozen, Fertile Ground for Developing Tennis Players". The New York Times . Retrieved 2021-09-20.
  4. 1 2 "ITF Tournaments at JTCC in College Park, Maryland". JTCC. Retrieved 2021-06-05.
  5. ↑ Jiménez, Jesus (8 September 2022). "In Maryland, Frances Tiafoe's Former Home Rallies Behind Him". The New York Times. Retrieved 2022-09-08.
  6. ↑ Sun, Benjamin Snyder, Special to The Baltimore. "Junior Tennis Champions Center at College Park 'one of the best'". baltimoresun.com. Retrieved 2021-06-05.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  7. ↑ "JTCC AND FILA SIGN MULTI-YEAR PARTNERSHIP". JTCC. 9 October 2013. Retrieved 2021-09-05.
  8. ↑ "JTCC Earns 2nd Program of the Year Award". JTCC. 30 March 2018. Retrieved 2021-09-05.
  9. ↑ "ITF World Tennis Tour Juniors". www.itftennis.com. International Tennis Federation. Retrieved 2021-06-05.
  10. ↑ "@JTCC Hosts ITF Hard Court Championship in Gorgeous Prince George's". Tennis Atlantic. 2013-06-17. Retrieved 2021-06-05.
  11. ↑ Lee, Edward. "After Grand Slam run, Marylander Frances Tiafoe could be the next American hope in tennis". baltimoresun.com. Retrieved 2021-06-05.
  12. ↑ "BEDFORD CUP". JTCC. Retrieved 2021-09-28.
  13. ↑ "The JTCC High Performance Tennis Program for Junior Champs". JTCC. Retrieved 2021-06-05.
  14. ↑ "CHAMPIONS OF A CAUSE". JTCC. 17 May 2013. Retrieved 2021-06-05.
  15. ↑ "JTCC School - Learning and tennis program in College Park, MD". JTCC. Retrieved 2021-06-05.
  16. ↑ "Alumni College Placements - JTCC Tennis For Everybody". JTCC. Retrieved 2021-06-05.
  17. ↑ "Usue Maitane Arconada | Player Stats & More – WTA Official". Women's Tennis Association. Retrieved 2021-06-05.
  18. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 "NOTABLE ALUMNI". JTCC. Retrieved 2021-09-05.
  19. ↑ "TAMARA CULIBRK". JTCC.
  20. ↑ "Frances Tiafoe | Overview | ATP Tour | Tennis". ATP Tour. Retrieved 2021-06-05.
  21. ↑ "Tiafoe outlasts Kozlov in all-American Orange Bowl final". www.playerdevelopment.usta.com. Retrieved 2021-06-05.
  22. ↑ "Denis Kudla | Overview | ATP Tour | Tennis". ATP Tour. Retrieved 2021-06-05.
  23. ↑ "Robin Montgomery | Player Stats & More – WTA Official". Women's Tennis Association. Retrieved 2021-06-05.
  24. ↑ "Montgomery Wins ITF Grade I Doubles Title". myemail.constantcontact.com. Retrieved 2021-06-05.
  25. ↑ "Record Breaking Class of 2018". JTCC. 26 May 2018. Retrieved 2021-09-20.
  26. ↑ "SKYLAR MORTON". JTCC. Retrieved 2021-11-08.
  27. ↑ "Hailey Baptiste | Player Stats & More – WTA Official". Women's Tennis Association. Retrieved 2021-06-05.
  28. ↑ "EVAN ZHU". JTCC. Retrieved 2021-09-20.

38°58′38″N76°55′20″W / 38.97713°N 76.92217°W / 38.97713; -76.92217

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.