By Stacey Simmons, Junior Challenge Ladder Vice President
The ALTA Junior Challenge Ladder season is here! The season started on August 27, and we have more than 75 junior players competing throughout Atlanta. The goal of the 14-week season is to play tennis in a fun and low-pressure environment. The best part of the JCL is meeting new tennis friends across Atlanta. The ladder is ambitious, and our JCL players will play more than 1,000 matches over the course of the season.
We started the ladder season with a kickoff event at Sandy Springs Tennis Center. We added an extra flair this year and created a “Davis Cup” event. The players divided into two teams, Argentina and France. The players played three singles lines and two doubles lines. At the end, Argentina won with some great playing. The winning team consisted of Nick Ivchenko, Amanda Tanaka, Tyler Austin, Josh Gaus, Jacob Dorland, William Hackney, Grayson Perlman, and Alexandria Roberts.
Part of the fun of the JCL are the four, fun events that we host each year at Sandy Springs Tennis Center. Members get the chance to meet other ladder players, play tennis, eat, and have fun.
The ladder is bolstered by parents who schedule and drive their players to their matches. The glue to our ladder season is our incredible volunteer team, the ladder managers. Ladder managers are the main ingredient to a successful JCL season. They get the calls, emails, and text messages from the parents and players. Parents put their trust in our capable ladder managers to make sure it’s a smooth, safe, and fun ladder season.
Junior Challenge Ladder Managers
- Gina Woods — Boys Upper Ladder Manager
- Amish Mody — Girls Lower Ladder Manager
This is my second year as VP of the Junior Challenge Ladder. I’ve been involved with the ladder for six years. Both of my boys have played the ladder. The ALTA Junior Challenge Ladder has brought friendships and great tennis to the junior tennis players of Atlanta, and I’m excited about this current season. We have strong players and incredible ladder managers. I know this is going to be an unforgettable season.
This noble, ambitious JCL season is a backbone for junior tennis and the growth of tennis in Atlanta. Many players on the ladder go on to play college tennis.
Good luck to all the players this year, and we look forward to recapping the year with the final standings in our March/April issue of Net News in 2024.
Junior Challenge Ladder Mid-Season Standings
BOYS
- London Vasilescu
- Jacob Dorland
- Nicholas Ivchenko
- Micah Screws
- Mike Hughes
- Grayson Perlman
- Moulik Jain
- Brandon Kim
- Tom Hughes
- Lucas Vasilescu
- Adit Bhatia
- Thailesh Muruganandam
- Meet Soni
- Satyajeeth Sk
- Josh Gaus
- Parker Albin
- Samuel Abdulaev
- Tyler Austin
- William Hackney
- Joshua Ford
- Tucker Turknett
- Karaya Macharia
- Holton Milstead
- Joseph Biscotti
- Teo Alizadeh
- Alessio Toniolo
- Elias Panguito
- Dylan Luke
- Brantley Grooms
- Kavin Sivasubramanian
- Vishnu Tadipatri
- Nicholas Prather
- Aaryan Ralkar
- Lawson Kassinger
- Nikhilesh Thiru
- Caleb Burkhalter
- Finn Doyle
- Mukil Siva
- Avril Jain
GIRLS
- Bella Arwood
- Myra Wu
- Alyssa Braude
- Keza Macharia
- Amanda Tanaka
- Athithi Ayyappam
- Hannah Lee
- Bridgette Butler
- Addison Merrill
- Sofia Johnson
- Isabella Massay
- Lily Kate Bell
- Sophie Henry
- Myra Punekar
- Dylan Merrill
- Harshene Ramsankar
- Aashini Ayyappan
- Jamaya Williams
- Mirka Punekar
- Jaala Screws
- Kalya Sharp
- Lydia Sweeney
- Prathishta Girish
- Natasha Varas
- Julia Bealle
- Pragnya Girish
- Julia Marcotte
- Aanya Patel
- Molly Marsden
- Riya Chiang
- Tania De Wet
- Allison Howe
- Anjali Patel
- Lekha Selvakumar
- Sana Kamalraj
- Alexandria Roberts
- Kaavya Selvakumar
- Navaeh Patel
- Veda Nair
- Maria Escalera
- Emma Rhodes
- Prisha Mody
