The ITF team competitions currently cover two age groups, 14 & Under and 16 & Under. Both competitions give young tennis players the opportunity to experience international competition and the unique atmosphere of playing in a team for their country.
Every team, except for the Finals host nation teams who are granted an automatic place in the Finals, must compete in tough regional qualifying competitions to make it through to the annual Finals.
The World Junior Tennis competition, the International Team Competition for players aged 14 & Under, was started by the ITF in 1991. The top 16 boys' and girls' teams from regional qualifying compete for the title with over 100 countries represented in the opening stages of the competition. The Finals in 2012 were held in Prostejov, Czech Republic. The current champions are USA for boys and Slovak Republic girls.
The International Team Competition for players aged 16 & Under was launched by the ITF in 1985 as the "World Youth Cup" with NEC as the title sponsor between 1988 and 2001. In 2002, the ITF re-branded the boys competition as part of a new partnership with BNP Paribas to "Junior Davis Cup by BNP Paribas". The girls' competition was also changed to "Junior Fed Cup by BNP Paribas" in 2006. The 2012 Finals were held in Barcelona, Spain. The 2013 Finals will be held on hard courts at La Loma Centro Deportivo in San Luis Potosi, Mexico, which previously hosted the event in 2008-11. Italy are the current champions in the boys' competition and USA in the girls'.
Sunshine Cup and Connolly Continental Cup (18 & Under)
The boys’ ITF Sunshine Cup and girls’ Connolly Continental Cup are the International Team Competitions for players aged 18 & Under. The ITF took over the running of both events in 1997. The events were last held in 2001 when Russia made a clean sweep of the titles. The events have been put on hold for the immediate future.