Petits As

Les Petits As – Le Mondial Lacoste (English: Little champions – The Lacoste world championship) is a junior tennis tournament for players aged 12–14, held in Tarbes, France. This tournament is now one of the five Super Category tournaments in the U14 circuit of the Tennis Europe Junior Tour,^[1][2] and it is universally recognized as the world’s leading indoor U14 competition.^[3] The tournament is traditionally held at the end of January, although the 2020 and 2021 editions had to take place in September due to the Covid-19 pandemic.^[3]

The event has seen a number of its champions go on to become slam winners, including Rafael Nadal, Michael Chang, Martina Hingis, Kim Clijsters, Juan Carlos Ferrero, Jeļena Ostapenko and Bianca Andreescu.^[4][5] Due to the relatively restrictive age range, few players have won the title more than once, although Hingis and Timea Bacsinszky have both done so.^[6] Most recently, upcoming Spanish player Carlos Boluda became the first boy to do so.

Format

The tournament is played on indoor GreenSet (hard) courts. Roughly 7,000 players enter the pre-qualifying tournaments held across France, with that number being narrowed down to 350 for the final qualifying stage, and 64 for the final tournament.^[7] This event welcomes 45 000 visitors each year in Tarbes and garners over 125 000 live-stream viewers across 151 countries yearly.^[8] The event is regulated by the International Tennis Federation (ITF) and has businesses such as Head, Eurosport, Coca-Cola, and Peugeot amongst its portfolio of partners.^[9]

Notably, Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray faced each other for the very first time in the quarterfinals of the 2001 edition, which was won by Murray 6-0 6-1.^[10][11][12] In the 2017 edition, the 13-year-old Carlos Alcaraz and Holger Rune played together in the doubles competition.^[13] In 1994, future No. 1 Juan Carlos Ferrero produced one of the competition's most unexpected triumphs when he won the tournament without a ranking.^[5]

Results

^[14][15]

Boys' singles

Year	Champion	Runner-up	Score
1983	Jean-Baptiste Bollée	Juan Manuel Naves
1984	Frédéric Fontang	Marek Miskolci
1985	Richard Krajicek	Philippe Leblanc
1986	Michael Chang	Johan Alvén
1987	Reinhard Wawra	David Klein
1988	Brian Dunn	Julian Knowle
1989	Tommy Shimada	Gonzalo Corrales
1990	Maxime Boyé	Magnus Norman
1991	Răzvan Sabău	Juan Antonio Saiz
1992	Olivier Mutis	Björn Rehnquist
1993	Miha Gregorc	Dumitru Caradima
1994	Juan Carlos Ferrero	Fernando González
1995	Olivier Rochus	Gasper Martinjak
1996	Paul-Henri Mathieu	Todor Enev
1997	Julien Maigret	Carlos Cuadrado	2–6, 6–1, 6–2
1998	Matthew Smith	Mario Ančić	6–1, 6–3
1999	Richard Gasquet	Brian Baker	7–5, 6–3
2000	Rafael Nadal	Julien Gely	6–4, 6–1
2001	Alexandre Krasnoroutskiy	Andy Murray	3–6, 7–5, 6–3
2002	Dylan Arnould	Robin Roshardt	6–4, 7–6(7–2)
2003	Donald Young	Leo Rosenberg	6–2, 6–1
2004	Andrew Thomas	Daniel Cox	4–6, 6–2, 6–2
2005	Chase Buchanan	Lazare Kukhalashvili	6–4, 4–6, 6–4
2006	Carlos Boluda	Sebastian Lavie	7–6(7–3), 6–3
2007	Carlos Boluda	Christian Harrison	6–2, 6–2
2008	Edward Nguyen	Liam Broady	6–4, 7–5
2009	Nikola Milojević	Borna Ćorić	6–2, 6–3
2010	Quentin Halys	Noah Rubin	6–1, 6–2
2011	Henrik Wiersholm	Bogdan Borza	6–2, 5–7, 6–3
2012	Frances Tiafoe	William Blumberg	6–0, 6–2
2013	Samuele Ramazzotti	Miomir Kecmanović	7–6(10–8), 0–6, 6–0
2014	Rayane Roumane	Nicola Kuhn	5–7, 7–5, 6–1
2015	Tseng Chun-hsin	Timofey Skatov	6–4, 6–1
2016	Stefan Leustian	Borna Devald	6–2, 6–1
2017	Luca Nardi	Hamad Međedović	6–2, 7–5
2018	Victor Lilov	Mikhail Gorokhov	6–4, 7–6(7–6)
2019	Vojtech Petr	Rashed Nawaf	4-6, 6–4, 7–6(7–1)
2020	Oleksandr Ponomar	Janis Rafael Simmen	6–4, 6-1
2021	Maxim Mrva	Federico Cinà	6–3, 3-6, 6-0
2022	Thijs Boogaard	Carel Aubriel Ngounoue	3-6, 6-2, 6-3
2023	Mark Ceban	Daniel Jade	6-3, 6-2
2024	Michael Antonius	Izan Baranes Lasala	4-6, 6-2, 6-0

Girls' singles

Year	Champion	Runner-up	Score
1983	Sybille Niox-Château	Cécile Bourdaix
1984	Emmanuelle Derly	Alexia Dechaume
1985	Sandrine Jaquet	Annika Narbe
1986	Laxmi Poruri	Yvonne Grubben
1987	Kim Kessaris	Ursula Priller
1988	Anke Huber	Katherine Denn Samuel
1989	Nicole London	Zdeňka Málková
1990	Heike Rusch	Lindsay Davenport
1991	Martina Hingis	Dally Randriantefy
1992	Martina Hingis	Rita Kuti-Kis
1993	Stephanie Halsell	Réka Vidáts
1994	Anna Kournikova	Stephanie Kovacik
1995	Mirjana Lučić	Justine Henin
1996	Jelena Pandžić	Melissa Middleton
1997	Kim Clijsters	Elena Bovina	7–5, 3–6, 6–2
1998	Lina Krasnoroutskaya	Caroline Raba
1999	Bethanie Mattek	Matea Mezak
2000	Dinara Safina	Lina Stančiūtė
2001	Vojislava Lukić	Dia Evtimova
2002	Timea Bacsinszky	Alisa Kleybanova
2003	Timea Bacsinszky	Raluca Olaru
2004	Yelena Kulikova	Madison Brengle	6–4, 6–4
2005	Ksenia Pervak	Gracia Radovanovic
2006	Gabriela Dabrowski	Anna Arina Marenko	6–3, 6–4[16]
2007	Anna Orlik	Nicole Gibbs	6–4, 6–1
2008	Daria Gavrilova	Laura Robson	6–3, 6–3
2009	Yulia Putintseva	Irina Khromacheva	6–4, 6–2
2010	Kanami Tsuji	Indy de Vroome	4–6, 6–3, 6–4
2011	Jeļena Ostapenko	Anastasiya Komardina	1–6, 6–3, 6–3
2012	Jaqueline Cristian	Tornado Alicia Black	6–2, 6–3
2013	CiCi Bellis	Andreea Amalia Roșca	6–0, 6–2
2014	Bianca Andreescu	Claire Liu	6–4, 7–5
2015	Anastasia Potapova	Olga Danilović	6–4, 6–4
2016	Marta Kostyuk	Denisa Hindová	6–2, 6–1
2017	Maria Timofeeva	Daria Lopatetska	6–3, 4–6, 6–3
2018	Alexandra Eala	Linda Nosková	5–7, 6–3, 7–6(7–5)
2019	Linda Fruhvirtová	Sofia Costoulas	6–1, 6–0
2020	Brenda Fruhvirtová	Clervie Ngounoue	6–0, 3–6, 7–5
2021	Mathilde Ngijol Carre	Mika Buchnik	4-6, 6-2, 6-1
2022	Julia Stusek	Hannah Klugman	6-3, 6-3
2023	Anna Pushkareva	Giulia Safina Popa	7-5, 6-1
2024	Mariia Makarova	Kseniia Ruchkina	6-3, 6-2

Exhibitions

The tournament often features retired and/or active players making appearances in exhibition matches in the evening preceding the final day of play. It is common for upcoming and veteran French players to be present. In recent tournaments, players present have included:

• 2004: Yannick Noah and Henri Leconte.
• 2005: Juan Carlos Ferrero (a former champion) and David Nalbandian, who replaced compatriot and French Open champion Gastón Gaudio at the last minute.
• 2006: Rafael Nadal and Fabrice Santoro.
• 2007: Richard Gasquet and Gaël Monfils.
• 2008: Fabrice Santoro and Marc Gicquel, after Paul-Henri Mathieu and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga withdrew. Mathieu, who had injured himself at the 2008 Australian Open, signed autographs instead.

References

1. "Les Petits As - Le Mondial Lacoste promoted to the Super Category!". www.lespetitsas.com. 18 November 2019. Archived from the original on 26 October 2023. Retrieved 26 October 2023.
2. "Super Category". www.tenniseurope.org. Archived from the original on 26 October 2023. Retrieved 26 October 2023.
3. "'Les Petits As' 2021 to take place in September". www.tenniseurope.org. 29 September 2020. Archived from the original on 26 October 2023. Retrieved 26 October 2023.
4. "Ces célèbres joueurs de tennis ont joué à Tarbes dans leur jeunesse: des pépites d'archives" [These famous tennis players played in Tarbes in their youth: nuggets from the archives]. actu.fr (in French). 15 January 2023. Archived from the original on 23 October 2023. Retrieved 22 October 2023.
5. "Tennis. Les Petits As de Tarbes: machine à champions" [Tennis. Les Petits As de Tarbes: machine for champions]. www.ladepeche.fr (in French). 21 January 2011. Archived from the original on 23 October 2023. Retrieved 22 October 2023.
6. "CHAMPIONS - Les Petits As". www.lespetitsas.com (in French). Archived from the original on 28 May 2023. Retrieved 22 October 2023.
7. "INTRODUCTION Logistic and Budget". www.lespetitsas.fr. Archived from the original on 2008-03-16. Retrieved 2008-03-04.
8. "First Asian in Les Petits As". www.clubmed.com.my. 1 September 2018. Archived from the original on 26 October 2023. Retrieved 22 October 2023.
9. "Partners". www.lespetitsas.fr. Archived from the original on 2008-03-16. Retrieved 2008-03-04.
10. "Open d'Australie: Murray face à Djokovic, 10 ans après" [Australian Open: Murray against Djokovic, 10 years later]. fr.tennistemple.com (in French). 30 January 2011. Archived from the original on 23 October 2023. Retrieved 22 October 2023.
11. "Au bal des prétendants" [At the suitors' ball]. www.europe1.fr (in French). 29 January 2011. Archived from the original on 23 October 2023. Retrieved 22 October 2023.
12. "Djokovic fait le buzz en évoquant les Petits As de Tarbes et son 1e match face à Murray" [Djokovic creates buzz by talking about the Petits As de Tarbes and his first match against Murray]. www.tarbes7.fr (in French). 14 January 2019. Archived from the original on 23 October 2023. Retrieved 22 October 2023.
13. "When Carlos Alcaraz and Holger Rune played doubles together in junior tennis". www.sportskeeda.com. 2 June 2022. Archived from the original on 2 June 2022. Retrieved 23 October 2023.
14. "The winners of Les Petits As". www.lespetitsas.com. Archived from the original on 26 October 2023. Retrieved 23 October 2023.
15. "Tennis. Les Petits As : le palmarès complet du tournoi" [Tennis. Les Petits As: the complete prize list of the tournament]. www.ouest-france.fr (in French). 25 January 2022. Archived from the original on 23 October 2023. Retrieved 22 October 2023.
16. "Ontario Girls Win in Europe". Ontario Tennis. Ontario Tennis Association. 2006. Archived from the original on 2006-06-18. Retrieved 2008-05-02.

External links

• Les Petits As website (in French and English)
• 2008 Boys' Singles draw
• 2008 Girls' Singles draw