Florida Juniors Named to USTA 14U International Tennis Team

Three Florida juniors will join six other players to represent the U.S. at two 14-and-under international competitions — the prestigious Junior International Teen Tennis tournament in Great Britain, and the renowned Les Petits As Le Mondial Lacoste in Tarbes, France.

Bradenton’s Brooklyn Olson (coach: Ashley Hobson), Orlando’s Lexington Reed (coach: Jay Gooding), and Boca Raton’s Mia Slama (coach: Marc Slama) will be joined by Maya Joint (Grosse Pointe, Mich.) and Clervie Ngounoue (Washington, D.C.). USTA National Coach Lori Riffice will travel with and coach the girls.

13-year-old Olson had a great deal of success in 2019, competing in her first “Bobby Curtis” tournament after relocating to Florida from Kansas. There she captured the Girls 16s at the USTA Florida ‘Bobby Curtis’ Junior State Tennis Championships, and later went on to compete in the USTA Girls’ 14 National Championships, 2019 Eddie Herr International, and the 58th Junior Orange Bowl. 

As of 1/21/2020, Olson is ranked No. 4 nationally, and No. 1 in Florida according to Tennis Recruiting Network. Slama follows at No. 7 nationally and No. 3 in Florida, and Reed Reed is ranked at No. 15 nationally and No. 5 in Florida.

The boys players also named to the team are Kaylan Bigun (College Park, Md.), Nikita Filin (Wilmette, Ill.), Mitchell Lee (Oakland, Calif.) and Alexander Razeghi (Humble, Texas). USTA National Coach Jon Glover will travel with and coach the boys.

All nine players were selected based on their results at a 16-person Les Petits As USA Playoffs that was held in October 2019.

The U.S. has had five Les Petits As singles champions in the last nine years, including CiCi Bellis, in 2013, and Frances Tiafoe, in 2012. Former American winners at Les Petits As also include Michael Chang, Donald Young, Bethanie Mattek-Sands, while Lindsay Davenport was a finalist, and 2017 US Open champion Sloane Stephens and finalist Madison Keys were both participants.

Both tournaments are renowned for their previous participants. Andy Murray, Kim Clijsters, Justine Henin and Caroline Wozniacki are among the previous finalists in Bolton, while a number of former Les Petits As champions have gone on to become No. 1 in the world, including Rafael Nadal, Clijsters and Martina Hingis.

For more information, visit usta.com.