Nineteen TT tennis jrs ranked by ITF

KAMRAN McIntosh-Ross and Osenyonye Nwokolo have closed 2019 as the highest ranked TT tennis juniors, leading a record-high 19 players into the International Tennis Federation (ITF) international junior rankings.

TT’s previous record was 16 players ranked at the end of 2018.

Fifteen-year-old McIntosh Ross, who represents TT but lives in the United States, is ranked 2239 among the boys, followed by Nwokolo’s brother Ebolum Nwokolo in 2727th place. The other five ranked boys are Aidan Carter (2855), Alijah Leslie (2940), Nathan Valdez (2940), Jaydon Alexis (3016) and Liam Sheppard (3016).

Twelve girls are ranked by the ITF. Nwokolo (Osenyonye), 18, leads in 2181st place, followed by Keesa Lee Young in 2397th spot. There is a three-way tie for TT’s third to fifth ranked players, with Alexis Bruce, Charlotte Ready and Shauna Valentine all in 2657th place.

Aalisha Alexis- (2779), Isabel Abraham (2803), Maria Honore (2803), Abigail Jones (2803), Victoria Koylass (3103), Jade Ali (3181) and Adalia Badroe (3181) round off TT’s ranked girls. The consistent increase in the number of players achieving ITF rankings is due, according to the Tennis Association of TT (TATT), to a combination of factors, including the increase availability for regional and international tournaments hosted locally, as well as improvements in coaches education and the implementation of the National Junior Performance Programme.

With the proliferation of ITF tournaments in neighbouring countries, TT’s players are poised to set new records and to bolster their individual rankings in 2020.