After capturing a record 28th Southern Ozaki Junior Cup championship in 2024, Team Georgia is back and ready to compete for #29 at the Rome Tennis Center this weekend.
The Southern Ozaki Junior Cup, formerly the Junior Davis/Fed Cup, was created to give juniors the opportunity to experience the thrill and camaraderie of tennis as a team coed sport. The name “Ozaki” was added to the title in 2019 to commemorate retired Bill Ozaki, who served as the USTA Southern Director of Player Development & Programs for nearly 30 years.
Competing for Team Georgia in the 2025 Southern Ozaki Junior Cup is Gabriela Blanco, Rhiya Chiang & Everly Cogdell (Girls 12’s), Tatum Carpenter, Nicole Blanco & Cateleya Brown (Girls 14’s), Madeline Hunt, Katelyn Seagraves & Lily Groslimond (Girls 16’s), Elle Groslimond, Juliana Diianni & Mary Kate Monk (Girls 18’s), Milan Nair, Luke Hedrick & Meet Soni (Boys 12’s), Ryan Herrington, Nathan Nair & Ryan Barr (Boys 14’s), Kush Bhandari, Aashray Arun & Zachary Szymanski (Boys 16’s) and James Weber, Nishith Rajesh & Artem Dmytrenko (Boys 18’s).
Head Coach Melanie Oudin returns this year, she will be assisted by Kurt Clemmons, Alex Shusis & Marley Woods.
As is a yearly tradition, USTA Georgia will award the “Rick Davison” MVP trophy to the player who demonstrates outstanding performance, team spirit, sportsmanship, and leadership. The trophy is named in honor of Rick Davison, former USTA Georgia Director of Competition.
Team Georgia has been drawn into the Orange Group in preliminary round play, along with Kentucky & Louisiana. Doubles competition begins Thursday at 5:00 PM, with singles play on Friday. Final rounds will be contested on Saturday & Sunday.
Follow all the tournament action here!
Photo – 2024 Team Georgia (Southern Ozaki Junior Cup Champions), courtesy of Your Game Face
