Making The JuniorDavis Cup Team

Back in the day, before junior tennis players started chasing ITF points all over the globe, American Junior Tennis held out a carrot of higher achievement to its players. The Junior Davis Cup Team.

Junior players received an automatic berth on this elite team if they were selected to play Junior Wimbledon and the other Junior majors. But for the rest of us junior players, the ultimate achievement was an invitation to the Junior Davis Cup tryouts.

1982 Junior Davis Cup Team

Back Row: Assistant Coach Dennis Emory, Chuck Willenborg, Brad Ackerman, Eric Rosenfeld, Mark Styslinger, Michael Kurus, Tim Pawcett, Dan Goldie, Coach Brad Lauderback.

Front Row: President of USTA David Markin, Jonathan Canter, Rick Leach, Sean Ross, Barry Buss (with topsiders), Lawson Duncan.

The Junior Davis Cup tryout was a boot camp of sorts where the top 36 remaining players were invited to a central site to playoff against each other with four slots available on the team, won by those who got hot at the right time and were able to withstand the grueling two match a day round robin format.

It turned out that some major players were in those tryouts, including several who did not make…