Palo Alto, Calif. (March 28, 2022) — Universal Tennis is announcing a co-branded partnership with the SoCal Final 8 Junior Masters Championships, a prestigious junior event taking place in November, and featuring the Top 8 players in boys’ and girls’ 18U, 16U, 14U, and 12U divisions.
“The Final 8 Junior Masters is the pinnacle of our competitive season,” said Trevor Kronemann, Executive Director at USTA Southern California. “We are excited about the opportunity to add a new level of prestige to this Signature Series event, and providing new opportunities for our young players through strategic and innovative partnerships such as this.”
The road to the Final 8 Junior Masters Championships features 10 SoCal Grand Prix events (Level 3 and Level 4s) running from January through October with event winners receiving points based on level and finish. The Top 4 points leaders will be awarded entry into the SoCal x Universal Tennis Final 8 Masters, along with the Top 4 players by Verified UTR Rating who have competed in a minimum of 1 So Cal Grand Prix event with at least 1 Grand Prix point earned.
“We are excited to announce this partnership with the Southern California region,” said Mark Leschly, Chairman and CEO of Universal Tennis. “Universal Tennis is always happy to collaborate with tennis providers to bring the benefits of the UTR Rating and level-based play to players.”
The 64 total person Final 8 Junior Masters Championships will take place Nov.19-20 using a round-robin eight-player draw format for each of the 18U, 16U, 14U, and 12U boys’ and girls’ divisions. The location will be announced soon.
The Final 8 Masters Championships entries and draws will operate in a new Universal Tennis Digital Club called the Race to the SoCal x Universal Tennis Final 8 Master Championships. Seeding will be based on UTR Rating, the gold standard for college recruitment in the U.S., and the most accurate rating system in the world. An additional highlight for the Final 8 Master Champions is a wild card into an upcoming UTR Pro Tennis Tour event and/or the December 2022 UT Junior National Championships.
Also for the Final 8 Masters Championships, matches will be live-streamed and college recruitment education talks will be held for players and parents.
More information can be found here.
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