The ITF’s Grand Slam Player Development Programme (GSPDP) announced that Hong Kong’s Wong Him and Lena Lin have been selected to join the GSPDP/ITF/ATF 14U Team to Europe. The tour will begin in the second week of July and continue through France, Germany, and Belgium until 8 August.

Sponsored by the GSPDP, the touring team is an integral part of the ITF development programme and aims to facilitate the transition of talented players through regional and international junior competitions and where possible, on to the professional ranks.

This year’s team will comprise six boys and six girls with three coaches. The ITF covers all travelling, boarding, and lodging expenses. Players were selected based on performances at the ITF World Junior Tennis and AO Final Qualifying event.

Leader of Performance at HKCTA, Ahmed El Menshawy, who oversees the NTS pathway, part-time ETG initiatives, and team events across all age divisions, remarked, “I am delighted to see Lena Lin and Wong Him selected for the GSPDP Touring Team. As leading players from the 2012 age group, this opportunity allows them to compete against some of the strongest under-14 players, providing a valuable platform to test their abilities, identify strengths and areas for improvement, and return with renewed motivation for their development journey.”

At this year’s WJT Asia/Oceania Qualifying in Kuching, Malaysia, Wong Him went 5-1 in singles, going 4-1 at the one spot, and defeated representatives from Kazakhstan, New Zealand, Sri Lanka, Korea, and India.

Wong Him: “Being selected for this year’s team fills me with excitement, gratitude, and a sense of responsibility. This European tour is a major step in my tennis journey and my first time visiting Europe. Competing against top players my age is both an affirmation of my hard work and a valuable learning opportunity. I know the level of play will be high, and every match will help me grow.”

“I want to thank the Grand Slam Player Development Programme, ITF, ATF, HKSI, and HKCTA for their trust and support, my coaches for their guidance, and my family for always being there for me. It is an honour to represent Hong Kong,” he added.

“I will train even harder to be fully prepared. I truly cherish this opportunity and will give my best, showing the fighting spirit and good attitude of a Hong Kong junior player.”

Lena Lin echoed similar sentiments: “I’ve been selected to represent Hong Kong at the European Junior Tour – one of the world’s best U14 tennis events. Chosen by Team Asia, I’ll be competing against the best juniors from around the world.”

“I appreciate the opportunity – It’s a privilege, not an achievement in itself. I’ve prepared well, but I also know there’s a lot to learn.”

“I’ll give my best effort, not only to learn, but also to compete, like a warrior who doesn’t just fight for themselves but also for their teammates – specifically, the Hong Kong team that’s been supporting me. I’ll be having a great time on this amazing trip while getting to know, one match at a time, what exactly the difference is between me and the top players,” she added.

At this year’s WJT Asia/Oceania Qualifying in Kuching, Malaysia, Lena Lin went 4-2 at No. 1 singles, defeating representatives from Uzbekistan, Malaysia, Indonesia, and Vietnam. Her only losses came against a pair of highly-touted players—Korea’s Kim Seohyeon and Japan’s Shina Okuyama.

Okuyama is No. 45 on the Tennis Europe Girls 14 & Under Ranking, while Kim, at No. 422, is the fourth highest-ranked player in the world in her age group (born 2012) according to the ITF World Tennis Tour Junior Rankings. Only Estonia’s Elizaveta Anikina at No. 149, Brazil’s Eduarda Gomes at No. 367, and China’s Wang Jiayi at No. 389 are ranked higher.

Okuyama also won the G14 consolation draw at this year’s Les Petits As. It is one of the most prestigious 14U tournaments in the world and is often referred to as the “unofficial World Championships” for the U14 category. Its first edition was held in 1983 in Tarbes, France.

Previous winners of the Les Petits As G14 singles included Martina Hingis, Anna Kournikova, and Kim Clijsters, while past finalists were Justine Henin, Lindsay Davenport, and Belinda Bencic, to name a few. Past champions on the boys’ side include Michael Chang, Rafael Nadal, Juan Carlos Ferrero, Richard Gasquet, and Frances Tiafoe.

Wong Him is a Diocesan Boys’ School Form 2 student. He captured both under-14 and under-16 boys’ singles titles at this year’s Nissin Hong Kong National Junior Tennis Championships. Lena Lin is the highest-ranked under-14 player in Hong Kong, according to the ITF World Tennis Tour Junior Rankings.

Players from Hong Kong who received an invitation to the ITF Asian 14 & Under Touring Team to Europe in the past included Jack Hui (1999), Ryan Cheung (2005), Justin To (2007), Kelvin Lam (2008), Katherine Ip (2009), Cody Wong (2016), Jenny Wong (2016), and Richie Choi (2024).

“Wong Him and Lena Lin follow in the footsteps of several outstanding Hong Kong players who have been selected for this programme over the years. Now, it is their turn to make their mark. Notably, this is the first time both a boy and a girl have been selected in the same year, highlighting the continued progress of Hong Kong tennis,” El Menshawy enthused.

“This achievement reflects the growing ambitions of Hong Kong to establish consistent representation at the Grand Slams. Developing a steady pipeline of high-level junior players is essential to achieving this goal,” he added.

In earlier editions, the ITF/Asian 14U Team embarked on a six-week tour in Europe that saw them compete in five prominent tournaments on the Tennis Europe Junior Circuit—collectively referred to as the Young Stars Tour, which preceded immediately before the World Junior Tennis (WJT) Finals—the premier 14U team competition organized by the ITF.

Notable competitors on the Young Stars Tour included Fernando Gonzalez, Richard Gasquet, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, Gael Monfils, Jimmy Wang, Hsieh Su-Wei, Lleyton Hewitt, Kim Clijsters, Justine Henin, Marcos Baghdatis, Stan Wawrinka, Peng Shuai, Sania Mirza, Juan Martin Del Potro, Viktoria Azarenka, Nicole Vaidisova, Kei Nishikori, Katerina Siniakova, Ash Barty, and many more.

Each year, based on performances at regional junior circuits, talented players from less developed tennis nations are selected to join ITF/Grand Slam Development Fund (GSDF) touring teams to play higher-level events outside their region, with the ITF/GSDF Programme providing the ITF coach and expenses for the trip.

The ITF uses this circuit to offer players from South America, Asia, Africa, Central America, the Caribbean, select parts of Europe, and China a valuable opportunity to gain competitive experience. It also enables them to measure their skills not only against the strongest, young European players but also against one another.

In 2009, for instance, Katherine Ip earned her place on the touring team after she claimed first place in that year’s ITF/Asian 14U Championships. She defeated Indonesian No. 1 Aldila Sutjiadi 6-1 6-4 in the Week 1 final and then accounted for Chinese No. 1 Sun Zi-Yue 6-4 6-4 in the Week 2 final to finish in 1st place overall.

She went on to reach a career-high ITF Junior World ranking of No. 35 and competed in maindraw singles at all four Junior Grand Slams. Not only did she represent Hong Kong in the WJT, she was also a four-time Billie Jean King Cup Juniors representative. She went on play college tennis at Rice University where she earned Division I All-America in singles during the 2015-2016 season.

She also represented Hong Kong at the World University Games, Asian Games, Asian Championships, and Billie Jean King Cup. As it turned out, Katherine Ip is the second youngest player from Hong Kong to capture an ITF World Tennis Tour women’s singles title when she won Kolkata in 2012 at age 17 years and 74 days old.

The strengths of this summer’s touring team are evident in the opportunities it provides Asian players: not only do they compete against Europe’s top talent, but they also get to test their game alongside peers from CAT (Confederation of African Tennis) and COSAT (Confederacion Sudamericana De Tenis). Together with the ATF team, these three ITF GSPDP contingents form a large, formidable group that challenges the best European players on the tour.

Jack Hui, the very first Hong Kong player selected to the Touring Team in 1999, was a student at DBS when he started to train full-time at the Hong Kong Sports Institute (HKSI) at age 16.

Together with Brian Hung, their under-16 Hong Kong team was seeded No. 1 at the Junior Davis Cup Asia/Oceania Qualifying in 2001. The team came in 2nd to Australia and Hong Kong qualified for the Finals for the first time.

The boys subsequently finished in the top 10 in Chile, a record that had stood until the 2019 contingent led by Coleman Wong and Tim Gauntlett that bested it by finishing in the top 8 that year.

At the ATP Salem Open in 2002, Hui was the only local player to win a round in qualifying where he beat five-time Grand Slam men’s doubles winner and former doubles world No. 1 Rick Leach 6-1 3-6 6-4.

Hui later played two years of California CC at College of the Desert, where he led the team to consecutive State Championships.

Individually, he finished with an end-of-season ranking of No. 2 in 2005 and No. 1 in 2006 along with winning that year’s State Championship in singles. He earned All-America honours twice in singles and in doubles. He received a number of Division I scholarship offers, including Pepperdine, UC San Diego, and UC Irvine, to name a few, but he ultimately transferred to UC Santa Barbara on a full ride.

He went on to represent Hong Kong at the World University Games in Izmir in 2005, National Games in 2005 and 2009, in addition to the East Asian Games in 2009, and Asian Games in 2010. He also played Davis Cup for Hong Kong in 2009, 2010, and 2012.

Justin To (2007) went on to play No. 1 at Brown University where he was a Second Team All-Ivy in singles. Kelvin Lam (2008) was a four-year letterman at Harvard. Ryan Cheung played primarily at the one spot for UC Irvine, and he, too, was a four-year letterman and the captain for three years.

Cody Wong (2016) and Jenny Wong (2016) formed the backbone of Hong Kong’s under-14 girls’ team that beat No. 1 seed Japan, No. 2 seed Australia, and No. 3 seed Korea to win that year’s WJT Asia/Oceania Qualifying. The girls finished 6th in the World Finals, ahead of all the traditional Asian powerhouses. It remains Hong Kong’s first and only qualification to the WJT Girls’ Finals to date.

Cody Wong later peaked at No. 18 on the ITF World Tennis Tour Juniors Ranking after she defeated Philippines’ Alex Eala to reach the Australian Open girls’ singles quarterfinals in 2020. At the W15 Sharm El Sheikh in 2022, she beat Mirra Andreeva 6-4 6-1 in the young Russian’s maiden ITF World Tennis Tour women’s singles final.

After turning pro, Cody Wong peaked at WTA No. 319 in singles and No. 156 in doubles, and picked up 4 singles and 35 doubles titles on the ITF Women’s World Tennis Tour to date. She also won a bronze medal in mixed doubles together with Coleman Wong at the 2021 Summer World University Games and represented Hong Kong at the National Games, Asian Games, and Billie Jean King Cup on multiple occasions.

Jenny Wong went on to captain Cornell University and earned a doubles First Team All-Ivy selection.

“The future of Hong Kong tennis is here. Increased match-play opportunities and exposure to high-performance environments are vital components of player development. We look forward to seeing these players embrace the challenge and represent Team Hong Kong with pride,” El Menshawy concluded.

Catch the latest news of Wong Him and Lena Lin on HKCTA’s Facebook or Instagram. Learn about how the ITF is growing the game, the Grand Slam Development Fund, ITF Touring Teams, and more: www.itftennis.com/en/growing-the-game/grand-slam-player-development-programme/.