Les Petits As (English: ''Little champions'') is a junior
tennis tournament for players aged 12–14, held in
Tarbes, France.
The event has seen a number of its champions go on to become slam winners, including
Rafael Nadal,
Michael Chang,
Martina Hingis
Martina Hingis (, sk, Martina Hingisová; 30 September 1980) is a Swiss former professional tennis player. Hingis is the first Swiss player, male or female, to win a major title and attain a world No. 1 ranking. She spent a total of 209 weeks a ...
,
Kim Clijsters, and
Jeļena Ostapenko
Jeļena Ostapenko (born 8 June 1997), also known as Aļona Ostapenko, is a Latvian professional tennis player. She has career-high WTA rankings of world No. 5 in singles, achieved on 19 March 2018, and world No. 9 in doubles, reached on 22 Augus ...
. Due to the relatively restrictive age range, few players have won the title more than once, although Hingis and
Timea Bacsinszky have both done so. Most recently, upcoming Spanish player
Carlos Boluda became the first boy to do so.
The tournament is played on indoor
GreenSet (hard) courts. Roughly 7,000 players enter the pre-qualifying tournaments held across France, with that number being narrowed down to 350 for the final qualifying stage, and 64 for the final tournament. The event is regulated by the
International Tennis Federation (ITF) and has businesses such as
Head
A head is the part of an organism which usually includes the ears, brain, forehead, cheeks, chin, eyes, nose, and mouth, each of which aid in various sensory functions such as sight, hearing, smell, and taste. Some very simple animals may ...
,
Eurosport,
Coca-Cola, and
Peugeot amongst its portfolio of partners.
Results
Boys' singles
Girls' singles
Exhibitions
The tournament often features retired and/or active players making appearances in exhibition matches in the evening preceding the final day of play. It is common for upcoming and veteran French players to be present. In recent tournaments, players present have included:
*2004:
Yannick Noah and
Henri Leconte.
*2005:
Juan Carlos Ferrero (a former champion) and
David Nalbandian, who replaced compatriot and
French Open
The French Open (french: Internationaux de France de tennis), also known as Roland-Garros (), is a major tennis tournament held over two weeks at the Stade Roland Garros in Paris, France, beginning in late May each year. The tournament and ven ...
champion
Gastón Gaudio
Gastón Norberto Gaudio (; born 9 December 1978) is an Argentine retired tennis player. He won eight singles titles and achieved a career-high ATP singles ranking of world No. 5 in April 2005. Gaudio's most significant title win came at the 2004 ...
at the last minute.
*2006:
Rafael Nadal and
Fabrice Santoro.
*2007:
Richard Gasquet and
Gaël Monfils.
*2008:
Fabrice Santoro and
Marc Gicquel, after
Paul-Henri Mathieu and
Jo-Wilfried Tsonga withdrew. Mathieu, who had injured himself at the
2008 Australian Open
The 2008 Australian Open was a tennis tournament played on outdoor hard courts. It was the 96th edition of the Australian Open, and the first Grand Slam event of the year. It took place at the Melbourne Park in Melbourne, Australia, from 14 throug ...
, signed autographs instead.
References
External links
Les Petits As website{{in lang, fr, en
2008 Boys' Singles draw2008 Girls' Singles draw
Junior tennis
Hard court tennis tournaments
Indoor tennis tournaments
Tennis tournaments in France