Junior tennis tournaments are becoming more and more competitive and the boys are gaining vital experience for when they make the step up to the men's professional tour. Many former junior Grand Slam winners have gone on to be some of the best players on the ATP tour. 

Roger Federer, Andy Roddick and Richard Gasquet have all been junior world No. 1s over recent years showing the junior events are a good breeding ground for players. Many players decide not to compete too much in the juniors and save all their energy levels for when they join the ATP tour. Rafael Nadal's best junior ranking was 145 but he hardly played.

Richard Berankis is the current junior world No. 1. The likeable 17-year-old from Vilnius had a briliant year in the junior Grand Slams in 2007. He reached the Rolland Garros quarter-finals and the semi-final at Wimbledon. In the last Slam of the year, the US Open, Berankis was in tip top form. He defeated a host of top juniors to lift the trophy and showed his liking for hard courts. 

'It is the transition period from junior to senior events which will be critical in the further development of each player'


This was further enhanced when the Lithuanian won the prestiguos junior tournament, the Orange Bowl, in Florida. Further tournament victories, including the Canadian Open, ensured the player reached the top spot in the rankings. in 2008 Berankis has decided to start making his name in the professional tour. 

With no points, the Lithuanian will need to scrap at lower tournaments on the Futures circuit before he can test himself against the big boys. He already has five quarter-final or better results in tournaments spread across the USA and Mexico and has already made it to number 627 in the ATP rankings. Further solid performances should allow Richard to enter the world Top 300 before the end of the year and set himself up for a good 2009.

Uladzimir Ignatik is world junior No. 2, showing that breakaway countries from the former USSR have some good players being developed away from the might of the Russians. The 17-year-old is the current French Open junior winner and narrowly missed out on a Grand Slam double when he lost in the Wimbledon final to junior star Donald Young.

Young has gone on to reach the Top 100 in the ATP tour already since he left his junior days behind him and Ignatik will look to do the same. He lies three  places ahead of Berankis in the ATP tour rankings at 624, having already won one Futures tournament in the USA and reached three other quarter-finals. He will look to have as good a career in tennis as fellow countryman Max Mirnyi who has had a successful career in singles, but more notably in doubles.

The No. 3 ranked junior at present is also the youngest. At only 15 years of age Bernard Tomic is the youngest ever winner of a junior Grand Slam when he was victorious at this year's Australian Open in front of his home crowd. 

The youngster has a 12-0 match record in junior events this year and is upagainst players two years older and much more experienced than him. Tomic looks set to have a trophy filled junior career and on his favourite grass surface we could see a new Lleyton Hewitt in the tennis world, though there is still a long way to go befroe that happens.

All three players have a lot of potential and it is the transition period from junior to senior events which will be critical in the further development of each player.

Tomic still has a few years in junior tennis before he starts thinking of the big time, but for Ignatik and Berankis, senior success is just around the corner. Let's hope the boys get the right guidance from family and coaches and join the elite.