The Confederation of African Tennis (CAT), in conjunction with the International Tennis Federation (ITF) and the Fédération Tunisienne de Tennis (FTT), organized the African Junior Teams’ Championship (AJTC) 14&U-2024 at the stunning Tennis Club de l’Avenir Sportif de la Marsa, Tunisia, from May 6 to 11, 2024.
Nine African countries participated in the event: Tunisia (host nation), Algeria, Botswana, Egypt, Morocco, Togo, Uganda, and Zimbabwe. This tournament, which serves as a regional qualifier for the World Junior Tennis Finals 2024 (WJTF) in Prostejov, Czechia, from August 5-10, 2024, saw Morocco (boys and girls) and Tunisia (boys) secure their spots at the Finals.
To recap, the total number of spots available for African teams in the WJTF 2024 is three: two boys’ teams and one girls’ team.
The AJTC was dominated by the Moroccan teams, who won gold in both the boys’ and girls’ competitions, while the Tunisian boys and Egyptian girls finished second.
The Moroccan boys claimed the title with a comfortable 3-0 win over Tunisia in the final. En route to the final, Morocco defeated South Africa 3-0 in the semifinals and topped Group B with three victories over Uganda, Algeria, and Tunisia, which finished second in the group. Group A was led by the Egyptian team, which secured victories over Botswana and South Africa before losing to Tunisia 2-1 in the second semifinal. Subsequently, Egypt lost its second consecutive match, falling to South Africa 2-1 in the bronze medal game.
In other consolation matches, Botswana finished 5th with two victories over Algeria, which finished 6th, and Uganda, which finished 7th.
On the girls’ side, the Moroccan team secured their spot at the WJTF after winning the AJTC gold medal. Morocco overcame Egypt in the final and South Africa in the semifinals with identical 3-0 scores and took the top position in Group B after a 3-match streak against Tunisia, Algeria, and Zimbabwe.
The Egyptian girls made it to the final after two victories over South Africa and Togo in Group A and a 3-0 win against Tunisia in the semifinals. Tunisia claimed the AJTC bronze medal with a 2-1 victory over South Africa in the third-place playoff.
The remaining consolation matches saw Algeria finish 5th, Zimbabwe 6th, and Togo 7th.