Future American Stars Descend on Delray Beach for Boys’ 18 & 16 National Clay Court Championships
While Delray Beach resident Coco Gauff won the French Open women’s title a few weeks ago, American men’s tennis had its best showing on the clay courts of the French Open in nearly 30 years when two other local players, Tommy Paul and Frances Tiafoe, reached the quarterfinals.
That success was foreshadowed in Delray Beach in 2013 and 2014, when Paul won the singles and doubles titles both years at the USTA Boys’ 18 and 16 National Clay Court Championships hosted by Delray Beach, and Tiafoe reached the boys’ 16s quarterfinals in 2013.
The junior tournament is back in Delray Beach for the 20th year, July 6-13. Starting Sunday, the best junior boys in the country will descend on South Florida. Some of them might take American men’s tennis to new heights at the French Open in 10 years.
Current pro players Paul, Tiafoe, Taylor Fritz and Ben Shelton, who have been ranked in the world’s Top 10, all played the national junior clay court championships in Delray Beach before they were pros. Shelton won the boys 16s doubles title in 2019. Other current top ATP players who made their mark in the junior clay championships in Delray Beach include winner Sebastian Korda, two-time finalist Reilly Opelka, and finalist Jenson Brooksby, who have all gone on to win professional clay court titles on the ATP Tour.
More than 400 junior players are competing in the weeklong tournament, with 192 players in each of the 16s and 18s singles draw and 96 doubles teams in each division. Besides being named national clay court champion and receiving a coveted USTA gold ball, the 18s winner receives a wild card entry into the main draw of the Men’s USTA M15 pro event in Boca Raton, in addition to main draw entry into the Junior Orange Bowl International Tennis Championship, one of the world’s premier junior events. The Boys 16s winner receives a spot in the Orange Bowl qualifying draw.
Over the course of the week, 950 matches will be played using more than 3,000 tennis balls, and over 80 area clay courts will be used as match and practice courts. Two highlight shows for later broadcast on the Tennis Channel Plus app will be created, one for the 18s event and one for the 16s. View the 2024 Boys 18s show and the 2024 Boys 16s show.
The tournament will be staged at four different venues, with the Delray Beach Tennis Center – site of the ATP Tour’s annual Delray Beach Open — the site for all matches the final two days including the championship matches.
Singles matches will begin at 8:15 a.m. daily, with doubles matches not to begin before noon at the four venues. Admission is free:
Sunday, Day 1 – Wednesday Day 4:
Boys 18s (Delray Beach Tennis Center, Boca Raton Racquet Center)
Boys 16s (Palm Beach Gardens Tennis Center & The Country Club at Mirasol)
Thursday, Day 5:
Boys 18s (Delray Beach Tennis Center, Boca Raton Racquet Center)
Boys 16s (Palm Beach Gardens Tennis Center)
Friday, Day 6:
Boys 18s & 16s (Delray Beach Tennis Center, Boca Raton Racquet Center)
Saturday, Day 7 – Sunday, Day 8:
Boys 18s & 16s (Delray Beach Tennis Center)
The draws and schedule will be posted here. For more information about the event, visit DelrayBeachOpen.com/usta-nationalclays.
The event serves as a major college scouting event, as well. More than 75 college coaches and scouts are expected to attend the event. A College Expo will be held July 5 for the players and their parents from 11 a.m.-1 p.m. at the Delray Beach Community Center.
Baptist Health, which will provide medical services and support for the players, is the sponsor of the daily Boys 18s Player of the Day. The City of Delray Beach will present the daily Boys 16s Player of the Day.
The Boys 18s & 16s Sportsmanship Awards will be presented in honor of Jeff Rothstein, one of the most respected USTA referees, who passed away in 2023.
Past champions of the boys’ 18s singles event reads like a who’s who of pro tennis, including Harold Solomon (1970), Vitas Gerulaitis (1972), John McEnroe (1975 16s singles and doubles, 1976 18s singles and doubles), Aaron Krickstein (1983), Luke Jensen (1984), Jay Berger (1985), David Wheaton (1987), Bob Bryan (1996 singles and doubles with brother Mike Bryan, future six-time Delray Beach Open ATP doubles champions), James Blake (1997), Delray Beach Open ATP champion Jack Sock (2009 singles and doubles), Bjorn Frantangelo (2009 16s, 2010 18s), Tommy Paul (2013 16s singles and doubles, 2014 18s singles and doubles), and Sebastian Korda (2016). Tournament Director Ivan Baron took home the 16s doubles gold ball in 1988. The full list of winners is a smorgasbord for tennis history buffs.
