Grass court championships return to Philadelphia Cricket Club

The U.S. Junior International Grass Court Championships return to the Philadelphia Cricket Club June 13 with world ranked junior tennis hopefuls competing in both singles and doubles in the week long tournament.

The tournament is an outgrowth of the USTA Junior International Grass Courts Championships, which marked its 84th and final year at PCC in August 2002. The tournament today is an International Tennis Federation event and is the only United States junior tournament on grass. It affords players the opportunity to compete on grass before facing the All England Junior Championships at Wimbledon.

Unusually strong entries from the United States this year have given the tournament a decidedly American profile. Traditional tennis strongholds such as southern California, Texas, Florida and Georgia are well represented in this year’s line up. Julia Cohen of Weston, Fla. is the top player going in to the week before the final draw with a number 38 world ranking. Players from Canada, Slovenia, India, South Africa and the islands of the Caribbean and Bahamas lend the event its international status.

Singles entries closed on May 20 and doubles entries close on June 12, but several spots are to be filled by wild cards assigned by the U.S.T.A. Entries from as far away as South Africa, Japan and Chile will be taken into consideration in this assignment of wild card positions.

The tournament is presented by UBS with additional sponsorship from National Penn Bank, The Hirshorn Company, the USTA, TEVA Pharmaceuticals, and Phillips Group Oncology Communications. Match play begins at the Philadelphia Cricket Club at 10 a.m. Monday, June 13. All matches are free and open to the public.