Record entries for 2024 Australian Junior Open

The biggest Australian Junior Open in recent memory starts on Monday when nearly 300 players descend on Melbourne Sports Centres for a huge week of action.

The AJO takes place from Monday 8 to Thursday 11 April, followed by the 2024 Oceania Junior Championships and the 2024 Trans Tasman Junior Test Series.

Strong performances at next week’s tournament will also put the best young players in the selection frame ahead of July’s WSF World Junior Championships in Houston, Texas.

Boys and girls singles tournaments will be contested across the under 11, under 13, under 15, under 17 and under 19 age groups, with this year’s champions to be decided on Thursday. 

Joining Australian players at the event will be athletes from another 15 nations heading to Melbourne from Europe, Asia, North America and the South Pacific regions.

“Last year’s Australian Junior Open was a fantastic success with more than 200 entries, however this year entries are up almost a third which is a great sign of where the sport is headed,” said Tamika Hunt, Squash Australia National Lead - Competitions and Events.

“Many of the competitors will be used to the Melbourne Sports Centres courts having played last year’s AJO and World Junior Championships at the same venue. It is a fantastic facility for an event of this size and plenty of players will have the opportunity to play on the glass court.”.

“There is a real international flavour to the AJO once again, which only adds to the significance of the event. Last year a third of the medals were won by players representing nations other than Australia and this year we’re expecting plenty of international players to be in contention when the finals are decided.”

After Oscar Curtis won the Boy’s Under 19s for the last three years, a new champion is set to be crowned in 2024.

New Zealand’s Oliver Dunbar and Freddie Jameson fill the top two seeds in the boy’s U19 draw, while fellow Kiwi Charlie Prince joins Australian World Junior Championships representative Thomas Scott (NSW) as the two 3/4 seeds.

Darcy Hayes (VIC), the U17 runner-up from last year, is also in the U19 draw along with Kasper Cheung (NSW) who takes an extra step up the age groups having won U15 bronze in 2023.

In the Girl’s U19 draw, Madison Lyon (QLD) is gunning for a three-peat and enters the tournament as top seed, while New Zealand’s No.1 junior and world #144 Ella Lash is seeded second. Despite stepping up an age group, last year’s U17 finalists Maiden-Lee Coe (NZL) and Lijana Sultana (MLT) are the 3/4 seeds.

Japan’s Emily Senior (Girl’s U13) is the only player other than Lyon to be defending a title this year while Kieran Willathgamuwa (NSW) will be hoping to convert his Boy’s U13 victory in 2023 to U15 success in 2024.

The 2024 Australian Junior Open is an Australian Junior Squash Tour Platinum event with Glass Show Court (Court 1) matches being streamed LIVE on SquashAUS.TV .

Play commences at 8:30am on Monday.

Click here for draws and results.