The Wimbledon debutants ready for pro careers
Two British sixteen-year-old girls who made their main draw debut at Wimbledon this summer say it is time to step into the senior ranks.
Hannah Klugman has just risen to a career-high junior ranking of two, having reached the French Open final, the semi-finals of the US Open and the quarter-finals of Wimbledon.
Mika Stojsavljevic is already a junior Grand Slam champion, while she fell at the semi-final hurdle in New York last week in defence of her US Open title.
Both made their professional debut at the age of 14 and now feel ready to start climbing the ladder to the WTA Tour.
"I think I'm done with juniors now, I'm kind of ready to step into the seniors," Klugman told BBC Sport in New York.
"I came through at such a young age so I've had a lot of exposure. I've done three full years doing this so it's time to move on."
'Junior Slams don't mean anything'
Klugman is not ruling out playing a final junior Grand Slam at Roland Garros next June but feels there is now a limit to what she can learn at this level.
"These matches – I don't have to play well to win them. I can play a five out of 10 and get the win, and I know in seniors I definitely can't do that," she said.
"Juniors is just a stepping stone. I'd love to win a junior Slam – I'd be lying if I said I didn't want to – but every time my team reminds me it doesn't mean anything."
Stojsavljevic has already won a $ 35,000 (£25,860) tournament on the ITF World Tennis Tour. Winning the title in Nottingham in April 2024 earned her $ 3,935 (£2,903) and 35 world ranking points.
She also made waves on her WTA main draw debut last October, when she took Moyuka Uchijima, then ranked 57th, to a third-set tie-break in the Pan Pacific Open in Tokyo.
"I feel my game is ready to play pro tennis," Stojsavljevic said.
"I took a top-60 player to a tough three sets in the first WTA main draw I played and I've won an ITF title. So I know when I'm playing well I can compete with players at the top level and that's what I'm looking to build on and working towards from now on."
Stojsavljevic, a graduate of the LTA's Loughborough Academy, is now being coached by Jeremy Bates, who has worked with a host of British players including Katie Boulter. She is planning to continue her education as she travels, with A-levels lined up in English literature and politics
Klugman has been coached by Ben Haran since the age of nine and also does a number of weeks with fitness trainer Jez Green and physio Will Herbert, who spend much of the rest of their time with men's world number three Alexander Zverev.
A February birthday means Klugman could play junior tournaments for another two years.
'Winning a junior Slam is one of my proudest moments'
Annabel Croft, who won junior Wimbledon at the age of 17, has some reservations about players moving on too quickly.
"When I was playing juniors, I was exactly like Hannah," Croft said.
"The year that I won the juniors [Australian Open and Wimbledon titles] I was playing in the seniors at the same time. I was playing my idol Chris Evert out on Court One at Wimbledon in the third round and I wasn't focused on the juniors whatsoever.
"I was way more excited about the prospects of playing senior Wimbledon and going up against the best in the world.
"But in hindsight, it's one of my proudest moments and I realise I am going to be in that trophy cabinet forevermore.
"I think that no matter what happens she [Klugman] has got plenty of time to be putting herself up against the seniors but the one thing you can say about juniors is that you will never ever get that time again.
"So I totally get it but I just hope she doesn't regret it."
The WTA's age eligibility rules limit 16-year-olds to 12 professional tournaments each year, although anyone who finishes the year in the top five of the junior rankings can play an extra four.
And so next year the professional tour can expect to see much more of the pair, who have been playing each other since their under-10 days.
Stojsavljevic, who names Maria Sharapova and Novak Djokovic as her idols, is a clean and powerful ball striker while Klugman can serve and volley and – in her own words – "does not play like a usual woman".
"I've got slice, I like to change the rhythm up, mess the player up a little bit – and I've got a big serve," she said at Wimbledon this year.
"I used to love Ash Barty and I also really like Emma Navarro as well."
