Date: Winter 2024
Location: Frank Veltri Tennis Center, Plantation
The rites of passage in junior tennis include a pilgrimage to the Orange Bowl International Tennis Championships, according to Hall of Fame tennis journalist (and former Orange Bowl participant) Bud Collins. It’s part of the education.
For many foreign players, their first visit to the United States is to play in the Orange Bowl. For many American players, the tournament is their first taste of international competition.
The Orange Bowl tournament was founded in 1947 by Eddie Herr of Miami Beach. When his daughter Suzanne began playing as a junior, Herr discovered there were few tournaments in the area. He decided to launch the Orange Bowl event at the nearby public clay courts at Flamingo Park. Suzanne, 13, won the first girls’ 18s doubles title with Joan Johnson of Wyandotte, Mich., who also won the singles championship. Lew McMasters of St. Petersburg, Fla., captured the first boys’ 18s title.
The caliber of competition increased quickly as word spread about the tournament. Melita Ramirez of Mexico won the girls’ 18s title in 1948, but no other foreign player won until Carlos Fernandez of Brazil in 1956. Since then, the Orange Bowl’s list of champions has reflected the international scope of tennis. Over the years, winners have come from more than 20 nations – from Australia to Cyprus to Sweden.
The list of champions could comprise its own Hall of Fame and includes Bjorn Borg, Jim Courier, Elena Dementieva, Chris Evert, Roger Federer, Mary Joe Fernandez, Ivan Lendl, John McEnroe, Andy Roddick and Gabriela Sabatini. Other participants include Arthur Ashe, Boris Becker, Jennifer Capriati, Jimmy Connors and Yannick Noah.
Recent champions of the tournament include some of Tennis’ rising stars including Coco Gauff, Sofia Kenin, Bianca Andreescu and Miimir Kecmanović.
Past Champions
Boys ’18
Lew McMasters- 1947
Tommy Boys- 1948
Gil Bogley- 1949
Jacque R. Grigry- 1950
Sam Giammalva- 1951
Eddie Rubinoff- 1952
Mike Green- 1953
Allen Quay- 1954
Mike Green- 1955
Carlos Fernandes- 1956
Chris Crawford- 1957
Ronnie Barnes- 1958
José Luis Arilla- 1959
William Lenoir- 1960
Mike Belkin- 1961
Tony Roche- 1962
Thomaz Koch- 1963
Marcello Lara- 1964
Ismail El Shafei- 1965
Manuel Orantes- 1966
Mike Estep- 1967
Richard Stockton- 1968
Harold Solomon- 1969,1970
Corrado Barazzutti- 1971
Björn Borg- 1972
Billy Martin- 1973, 1974
Fernando Luna- 1975
John McEnroe- 1976
Ivan Lendl- 1977
Gabriel Urpí- 1978
Raúl Viver- 1979
Joakim Nyström- 1980
Roberto Argüello- 1981
Guy Forget- 1982
Ket Carlsson- 1983
Ricky Brown- 1984
Claudio Pistolesi- 1985
Javier Sánchez- 1986
Jim Courier- 1987
Marc Rosset- 1988
Fernando Meligeni- 1989
Andrei Medvedev- 1990
Marcelo Charpentier- 1991
Vincent Spadea- 1992
Albert Costa- 1993
Nicolás Lapentti- 1994
Mariano Zabaleta- 1995
Nicholás Massú- 1997
Roger Federer- 1998
Andy Roddick- 1999
Todor Enev- 2000
Robin Söderling- 2001
Brian Baker- 2002
Marcos Baghdatis- 2003
Timothy Nelly- 2004
Robin Roshardt- 2005
Petru-Alenadru Luncanu- 2006
Ričardas Berankis- 2007
Yuki Bhambri- 2008
Gianni Mina- 2009
Geoge Morgan- 2010
Dominic Thiem-2011
Laslo Đere- 2012
Frances Tiafoe- 2013
Stefan Kozlov- 2014
Miomir Kecmanović- 2015, 2016
Hugo Gaston- 2017
Otto Virtanen- 2018
Thiago Agustín Tirante- 2019
Arthur Fils- 2020
Adolfo Daniel Vallejo – 2021
Gerard Campana Lee- 2022
Danil Panarin – 2023
Girls ’18
Melita Ramírez- 1948
Elaine Lewicki- 1949
Toby Greenberg- 1950
Karol Fageros- 1951
Karol Fageros- 1952
Pat Shaffer- 1953
Marilyn Stock-1954
Mimi Arnold- 1955
Mary Ann Mitchell- 1956
Maria Esther Bueno- 1957
Carol Hanks- 1958
Sandy Warshaw- 1959
Carole Ann Prosen- 1960
Judy Alvarez- 1961
Stephanie DeFina- 1962
Peaches Bartkowicz-1963-66
Patti Hogan- 1967
Patricia Montaño- 1968
Chris Evert- 1969, 1970
Donna Ganz – 1971, 1972
Mima Jaušovec- 1973
Lynn Epstein- 1974, 1975
Marise Kruger- 1976
Anne Smith- 1977
Andrea Jaeger- 1978
Kathleen Horvath- 1979
Susan Mascarin- 1980
Penny Barg- 1981
Carling Bassett- 1982
Debbie Spence- 1983
Gabriela Sabatini- 1984
Mary Joe Fernandez- 1985
Patricia Tarabini- 1986
Natalia Zvereva- 1987
Carrie Cunningham- 1988
Luanne Spadea- 1989
Pilar Pérez- 1990
Elena Likhovtseva- 1991
Barbara Mulej- 1992
Ángeles Montolio- 1993
Mariam Ramón- 1994
Anna Kournikova- 1995
Ana Alcázar- 1996
Tina Pisnik- 1997
Elena Dementieva-1998
María José Martínez Sánchez-1999
Vera Zvonareva- 200, 2001, 2002
Nicole Vaidišová- 2003
Jessica Kirkland- 2004
Caroline Wozniacki- 2005
Nikola Hofmanova- 2006
Michelle Larcher de Brito- 2007
Julia Boserup- 2008
Gabriela Dabrowski- 2009
Lauren Davis- 2010
Anett Kontaveit- 2011
Ana Konjuh- 2012
Varvara Flink- 2013
Sofia Kenin- 2014
Bianca Andreescu- 2015
Kaja Juvan- 2016
Whitney Osuigwe- 2017
Coco Gauff- 2018
Robin Montgomery- 2019
Ashlyn Krueger- 2020
Petra Marcinko – 2021
Mayu Crossley- 2022
Hannah Klugman – 2023
Boys ’16
Dick Holroyd- 1947
Bobby Sierra- 1948
Reynaldo Garrido- 1949
Al Harum-1950
Jerry Moss- 1951
Esteban Reyes Jr.- 1951
Jimmy Skogstad- 1953
Earl Buchholz Jr.- 1954, 1955
Ray Senkowski- 1956
Mike Neely-1957
Charlie Pasarell- 1959
Mike Belkin- 1960
Shyam Minotra- 1961
Bill Harris- 1961
Charles Brainard- 1963
Zan Guerry- 1964
Mac Claflin- 1965
Charles Owens-1966
Woody Blocher- 1967
uillermo Vilas- 1968
John Whitliner- 1969
Billy Martin- 1970
Björn Borg- 1971
Hans ildemesiter- 1972
Christophe Casa- 1973
Van Winitsky- 1974
Bobby Berger- 1975
Ivan Lendl- 1976
Scott Davis- 1977
Thierry Tulasne- 1978
Mats Wilander- 1979
Michael Kures- 1980
Carlos Chabalgoity- 1981
Stefan Edberg- 1982
Bruno Orešar- 1983
Horst Skoff- 1984
Arnaud Boetsch- 1985
Jim Courier- 1986
Paul Dogger- 1987
Fabrice Santoro- 1988
Juan Garat- 1989
Àlex Corretja- 1990
Gonzalo Corrales- 1991
Rene Nicklisch- 1992
Mariano Zabaleta- 1993
Markus Hipfl- 1994
Dario Sciortino- 1995
Julien Jeanpierre- 1996
Guillermo Coria- 1997
Tommy Robredo- 1998
Giovanni Lapentti- 1999
Brian Dabul- 2000
Florin Mergea- 2001
José Luis Muguruza- 2002
Dnald Young- 2003
Emiliano Massa-2004
Georgi Rumenov Payakov- 2005
Grigor Diminitrov- 2006
Bernard Tomic- 2007
Denis Kudla- 2008
Alexios Halebian- 2009
Laurent Lokoli- 2010
Chung Hyeon- 2011
Andrey Rublev- 2012
Chun Yun-seong- 2013
Sam Riffice- 2014
Sebastián Báez- 2015
Steven Sun- 2016
Nicholas David Ionel- 2017
Pablo Llamas Ruiz- 2018
Daniel Rincón- 2019
Jonah Braswell- 2020
Quang Duong – 2021
Naoya Honda- 2022
Dominick Mosejczuk – 2023
Girls ’16
Toby Greenberg- 1948
Suzanne Herr- 1949
Meta Schroedel- 1950
Leigh Hay- 1951
Rose Marie Reyes- 1952
Pat White- 1953
Sandra Lewis- 1954
Gwyneth Thomas- 1955
Gail DeLozier- 1956
Frances Farrar- 1957
Carol Ann Prosen- 1958
Julie Heldman- 1959
Stephanie DeFina- 1961
Peaches Bartkoqicz- 1962
Vicki Holmes- 1963
Carol Hunter- 1964, 1965
Linda Tuero- 1966
Kazuko Sawamatsu- 1967
Chris Evert- 1968
Laurie Fleming- 1969
Sandy Stap- 1970
Jeanne Evert- 1971
Robin Tenney- 1972
Zenda Liess- 1973, 1974
Jennifer Balent- 1975
Mary Lou Piatek- 1976
Hana Mandlíková- 1977
Michelle DePalmer- 1978
Pamela Casale- 1979
Barbara Bramblett- 1980
Raffaella Reggi- 1981
Claudia Hernández- 1982
Shawn Foltz- 1983
Mary Joe Fernandez- 1984
Sybille Niox- Château- 1985
Alexia Dechaume- 1986
Florencia Labat- 1987
Sylvie Sabas- 1988
Svetlana Komleva- 1989
Petra Kamastra- 1990
Andrea Glass- 1991
Emanuela Sangiorgi- 1992
Stephanie Halsell- 1993
Nathalie Dechy- 199
Ana Alccázar- 195
Elena Dementieva- 1996
Lourdes Domínguez Lino- 1997
Marta Merrero- 1998
Raluca Ciochină- 1999
Marion Bartoli- 2000
Whitney Deason- 2001
Charlène Vanneste- 2002
Alexa Gauch- 2003
Florencia Molinero- 2004
Oksana Kalashnikova- 2005
Allie Will- 2006
Lily Kimbell- 2007
Chanelle Van Nguyen- 2008
Breaunna Addison- 2009
Alexandra Kiick- 2010
Erin Routliffe- 2011
Gloria Liang- 2012
Charlotte Robillard- Millette- 2013
Bianca Andreescu- 2014
María Lourdes Carlé- 2015
Katie Volynets- 2016
Katriin Saar- 2017
Madison Sieg- 2018
Ashlyn Krueer- 2019
Valeria Ray- 2020
Kate Kim – 2021
Alexis Nguyen-2022
Leena Friedman – 2023