Florida’s Osuigwe, Price, Yepifanova Named to USTA National Girls’ Tennis Team

Florida’s Whitney Osuigwe (16, Bradenton, Fla.), Gabriella Price (14, Boca Raton, Fla.), and Alexandra Yepifanova (15, Aventura, Fla.) were announced this week as part of the eight-player girls’ 2018 Team USA National Junior Team.

The team is part of a training program designed to give a collection of America’s best young players, born in 2002-03, opportunities to train together during the summer and travel to play against top junior competition from around the world.

Three players qualified automatically through their previous junior results and/or rankings. The five additional players qualified for the team through a playoff, held May 1-5 at the USTA National Campus at Lake Nona in Orlando, Fla. Players were invited for the playoff based on tournament results, USTA national or ITF world ranking or by achieving USTA Player Development Excellence Grants.

Other players named to the team were Alexa Noel (15, Summit, N.J.), Savannah Broadus (15, Carrollton, Texas), Kylie Collins (15, Savannah, Ga.), Emma Jackson (15, La Grange, Ill.), and Connie Ma (14, Dublin, Calif.; Coach: Max Taylor).

USTA Player Development will provide the team with training opportunities and coaching and travel assistance to select ITF tournaments and training opportunities throughout the summer.

Osuigwe is the reigning ITF World Junior Champion and French Open junior champion, and is still the No. 1-ranked junior in the world despite not having played any junior tournaments in 2018. She recently reached the quarterfinals of the $80,000 USTA Pro Circuit women’s event in Charleston, S.C. Price was a member of the U.S. Junior Fed Cup team and is ranked No. 44 in the world junior rankings. Yepifanova is ranked in the Top 100 of the USTA girls’ 18s national standings and has achieved two USTA Player Development Excellence Grants.

For full playoff results click here.