Queensland siblings Hayden and Emerson Jones are the top-ranked Australian competitors in the Roland Garros 2024 Junior Championships.
Paris, France, 1 June 2024 | Leigh Rogers
A set of Gold Coast siblings, Hayden and Emerson Jones, lead the Australian charge in the Roland Garros 2024 Junior Championships.
The 15-year-old Emerson currently sits at a career-high world No.2 in the ITF world junior rankings, which is the highest position achieved by an Australian girl since Ash Barty in 2011.
> READ: Emerson Jones climbs to world No.2 in junior rankings
A finalist at the Australian Open earlier this season, Emerson is set to be highest-seeded Australian in a Roland Garros girls’ singles draw in more than 20 years and the first seeded Australian since Priscilla Hon was the 12th seed in 2014.
Emerson made her Roland Garros debut last year, losing to the eventual girls’ singles champion in the third round.
The National Tennis Academy athlete, who is coached by Sam Stosur’s former long-time coach David Taylor, has since established herself as one of the world’s best juniors. She has won 17 of her 20 singles matches on the junior tour this season and advanced to the final in three of her five tournaments.
Not to be outshone, her 17-year-old brother Hayden will set some firsts of his own in this year’s Roland Garros boys’ singles competition.
Currently sitting at world No.8 in the ITF junior rankings, he will be the first Australian seeded in a boys’ singles event in Paris since Rinky Hijikata was the 16th seed in 2019 and the highest-seeded Australian since Alexei Popyrin won the title in 2017 as the No.3 seed.
Hayden has also skyrocketed up the rankings this season, after winning 25 of his 29 singles matches and claiming three titles on the ITF junior tour.
He’ll be joined in the boys’ singles competition by Pavle Marinkov, who peaked at a career-high world No.16 in the junior rankings earlier this year.
The 18-year-old from Sydney is making his debut at Roland Garros. He has experienced success on the Grand Slam stage before, advancing to the third round in boys’ singles events at Australian Open 2023, US Open 2023 and Australian Open 2024.
> READ: Pavle Marinkov – A rising star of Australian tennis
Alana Subasic, a 17-year-old from Sydney, rounds out the Australian competitors.
The wildcard recipient has won 24 of her 32 singles matches on the ITF junior tour this season, helping her more than halve her ranking in the past six months. From just inside the top 300 in January, Subasic now sits at world No.94.
This will be Subasic’s first Roland Garros appearance.
The Roland Garros 2024 Junior Championships begin on Sunday 2 June.
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