17 January 2025 | Tennis Australia

A life-changing opportunity greets the Australian juniors who will launch their Australian Open girls’ and boys’ singles campaigns at Melbourne Park on Saturday.

For world No.1 Emerson Jones, it’s the chance to become the first Australian girl to triumph in her home Grand Slam since Siobhan Drake-Brockman defeated Annabel Elwood to claim the AO 1995 title.

As a runner-up in the Australian Open and Wimbledon girls’ tournaments last year – each time to Czech Renata Jamrichova – 16-year-old Jones is highly motivated to lift a Grand Slam singles trophy.

Signs are promising for the Queenslander, who stunned top-50 ranked Wang Xinyu in her WTA-level debut at last week’s Adelaide International.

Jones is among 10 Australian girls contesting their home Grand Slam tournament, with five of those players facing seeded players.

Koharu Nishikawa, one of six Australian wildcard entrants, has arguably been handed the toughest assignment. She faces No.3 seed Belgian Jeline Vandromme, the winner of the lead-in ITF J300 tournament in Traralgon.

Ava Beck and Sarah Mildren, respectively crowned Au16/u and 18/u Australian national junior champions at Bendigo in December, aim to build on their recent winning momentum.

Renee Alame – who joined Beck and Nishika in representing Australia in the junior Billie Jean King Cup team last year – is another notable entrant in the AO 2025 girls’ singles draw.

The 15-year-old faces French junior Ksenia Efremova in her opening match.

Ten Australian boys will launch AO 2025 boys’ campaigns on Saturday, with four of those players ranked inside the world’s top 100.

At No.35, Ty Host is the highest-ranked amongst that group. The 17-year-old is also one of three locals to face seeded opponents when he takes on Flynn Thomas, the No.11 seed from Switzerland.

Many eyes will be on Cruz Hewitt, by virtue of his famous tennis lineage. The son of former world No.1 and AO 2005 finalist has surged to world No.60 in the junior rankings. His first challenge as he aims to build on that milesotns is against Moobeen Kim of South Korea.

Others of note contesting the AO 2025 boys’ tournament include Duje Markovina (ranked world No.61) and Jake Dembo (No.68). Ymerali Ibriami enters the draw with the wildcard earned as the recently crowned 16/u boys’ national champoion.