© AELTC

National 14 & Under Challenge

2008 Road to Wimbledon

Since 2002, the Road to Wimbledon National 14 & Under Challenge has given UK junior tennis players under the age of 15 the chance to compete against each other at a local, county and national level, and to win the National Finals on the grass courts at Wimbledon.

The 2006 Boys' Champion was James Marsalek of Somerset and the Girls' Champion was Alex Walker from Northumberland.

The Challenge starts with local tournaments in spring, from which the winners and often runners-up go through to the County Finals in all 44 counties across the UK. In 2006, 20,000 young players from 900 clubs competed in the National 14 & Under Challenge.

The 44 girls and boys County Winners automatically qualify for the National Finals, with the 20 best runners-up also qualifying for the 64-player draw. The National Finals are held on Wimbledon’s Championships grass courts in August.

The girls and boys draws are divided into 16 boxes of four players each. The first three days of competition are a round robin format, after which the top two players from each box go through to the knock-out competition. The third and fourth-placed players go into the consolation competition.

Additional matches played in the doubles competition ensure that each player will have at least 4-5 matches on the grass at Wimbledon, and remain in the tournament until the Thursday.

A number of social activities are organised throughout the week to add to the juniors' experience of playing at Wimbledon. Players, coaches and their parents will be able to visit the brand new Wimbledon Tennis Museum and go on tours of the grounds including behind-the-scenes areas not normally open to the public.