One of the most prestigious junior events to appear annually on the USTA National Campus events calendar, the 2019 edition of the USTA Boys’ 12s National Clay Court Championships will take to the courts starting the morning of Sunday, July 14. Along with the 128-player singles draw there will also be a 64-team doubles draw. As the event is classified as a National Level 1, USTA Gold, Silver and Bronze balls will be at stake.

The opening round of singles and doubles will take place on Sunday, with the doubles champions to be crowned Friday, July 19 and the singles titlist to be decided Saturday, July 20. 

Earning the No. 1 seed this year is Cooper Woestendick, who was seeded No. 22 in 2018. He advanced to the round of 32 in singles while also teaming up with Alexander Razeghi to earn a third-place finish to collect a USTA Bronze ball. Woestendick has spent the last few months playing up in the 14s division, with his last action in the 12s coming at the Easter Bowl, where he was the runner-up in singles to go along with taking third in doubles. Within his section of the draw is 12th-seeded Maximus Dussault, who defeated Woestendick in last year’s Championships as part of his run to finishing fifth overall as an unseeded player.

Maxwell Exsted, half of the 2018 Boys’ 12s National Clay Court Championships doubles Gold Ball winners, has earned the No. 2 seed in singles. Exsted was 12th a year ago, but suffered a disappointing loss in the round of 64. He started off his 2019 campaign with second-place finishes in both singles and doubles at the USTA National Winter Championships. His most recent event was a USTA National Level 2, where he collected a pair of titles, including not losing a set in his five singles matches. Just as with Woestendick, Exsted could encounter a rematch with the player who defeated him in the 2018 Championships, as No. 8 Roman Sancilio would be his quarterfinal opponent if the seeds hold to form.

A strong showing over the past 12 months for Abhishek Thorat has vaulted him up to being seeded third after entering the 2018 Championships unseeded. Consecutive titles at Level 3 events in the Sunshine State in the month of January opened up his 2019, which was followed up with a National Level 2 title in February. Thorat’s big breakthrough result came at the Easer Bowl, where he posted victories over Exsted in the semifinals and Woestendick in the finals to earn the prestigious championship. He comes in riding a wave of confidence thanks to a singles title and third-place showing in doubles in the 14s division at last week’s National Level 3 at Amelia Island.

Also unseeded last year was Abhinav Chunduru, the No. 4 seed in the singles draw this week. He failed to get out of the opening round before winning two consolation matches in 2018, and was able to build on that to win his consolation bracket in the Boys’ 12s National Championships the following month. He played his way to the round of 16 at the USTA National Winter Championships, where he and his brother Prathinav toppled the top two seeds en route to the USTA Gold Ball victory. Chunduru has played up in the 14s division for the majority of 2019, but did play in the 12s at the Easter Bowl, which resulted in a consolation singles title and another Gold Ball in doubles.

Other seeded players of note include No. 5 A Filer, who has won 22 of his last 24 singles matches; seventh-seeded Jagger Leach, the son of International Tennis Hall of Fame member Lindsay Davenport, who just last month reached the finals of the 117th Annual USTA SoCal Junior Sectional Championships and won a National Level 2 title; No. 10 Yubel Ubri, who has won multiple events on the grounds of the National Campus during his junior career; No. 14 Prathinav Chunduru, the winner of two Gold Balls in doubles within the last eight months; No. 17 Zach Friedland, the 2019 USTA Florida “Bobby Curtis” Junior Sectional Championships in the 12s division held last month at the National Campus;

The list of seeds along with the full 64-team draw for the doubles competition will be released Saturday evening.

Among the previous singles champions are current pros Donald Young (2001), Jack Sock (2005), and Tommy Paul (2009). Former doubles champions include collegiate head coaches at BYU (Brad Pearce – 1978), Ohio State (Ty Tucker – 1982), and UCF (Bryan Koniecko – 1999) along with MaliVai Washington (1981), Denis Kudla (2004), Jack Sock (2004 and 2005), and Tommy Paul (2009).

For more information on the 2019 USTA Boys’ 12s National Clay Court Championships, click here.