Oliver Golding the new GB #1 junior

Oliver, who only turned 16 in September, had an excellent run of results in December (QF at the Grade 1 Eddie Herr; then R16 at the Grade A Orange Bowl; and then QF at the Grade A Casablanca) to leapfrog in the rankings above Jack Carpenter (who had a decent December himself including SF at Eddie Herr!).

Keep up the good work in 2010, lads!

Junior Australian Open just around the corner

5 British juniors are taking part.

Big questions are: will Heather Watson, to be seeded 2 judging by the entry list, make it two junior Slams on the bounce after her excellent US Open triumph; will Laura Robson go one further than last year's runners-up spot; will Oliver Golding, Jack Carpenter and Tom Allen continue their rich veins of form?

These are exciting times for British tennis!

Top 6 British girls in this week's rankings: 3 Heather Watson; 32 Laura Robson; 82 Jess Ren; 102 Lucy Brown; 129 Natalie Beazant; 139 Elisha Gabb

Top 6 British boys in this week's rankings: 35 Oliver Golding; 41 Jack Carpenter; 65 Tom Allen; 80 Tom Farquharson; 84 George Morgan; 100 James Marsalek

Tom F has jumped into the top 100 this week on the back of an excellent performance at last week's Grade 2 tournament in Bratislava where he was runner-up.

Well done you lads!

Despite the excitement of Laura Robson making the final of the Aussie Open junior singles at the week-end, the fact that she has simply replaced her points from being RU in 2009 (and that Heather Watson was thrown a real curve ball AO first round draw against an eventual semi-finalist) means all the significant junior rankings news this week is in the Boys' list!

Oliver Golding won a singles round at the AO and is equal with his Career High on world #33 ; Jack Carpenter picked up useful doubles points at the AO and is also equal with his CH on #41

George Morgan wasn't at the AO but was getting through to the semis of a Grade 1 event in the Czech Republic to lift him to a new CH #59 and nipping him past Tom Allen who partnered Jack C in the AO doubles and is only one off his CH at #65

Hard on Tom's heels now is Ashley Hewitt who has broken into the top 100 on the back of also reaching the semis of the Czech Grade 1 at world #71

Brit Boys in the top 100 this week (6): 33 Oliver; 41 Jack; 59 George; 65 Tom; 71 Ashley; 86 Tom Farquharson

Brit Girls in the top 100 this week (3): 4 Heather; 34 Laura; 81 Jess Ren

One month's worth of postings were lost into cyberspace

So to bridge the gap here's the current world junior rankings:

GB Boys in the top 100 (6): 32 Oliver Golding; 44 George Morgan; 58 Jack Carpenter; 70 Tom Allen; 80 Tom Farquharson; 85 Ashley Hewitt

Biggest recent news is George getting through to the final of the Grade 2 Argentina Cup during week commencing 22nd February superbly beating the world #15 from Japan in the semis

GB Girls in the top 100 (2): 4 Heather Watson; 33 Laura Robson

Jess Ren has dropped out of the top 100 to #117 and just behind Lucy Brown in fact who is on #114. No doubt she will return!

A Ren is back in the top 100

But it's Jen this time following two Grade 2 events in South Africa over the past fortnight which reaped 1 SF and 1 RU spot

Brit Girls in the top 100 (3): 5 Heather; 35 Laura; 96 Jen [just outside are 110 Lucy & 111 Jess]

Brit Boys in the top 100 (6): 35 Oliver; 44 George; 60 Jack; 83 Ashley; 84 Tom A; 93 Tom F [just outside 116 Christopher Simpson & 121 Liam Broady]

Well done, Jen Ren

Only news of note this week is Jen reaching the QFs of a Grade 1 in the Phillipines to continue her recent surge up the rankings

Next up for Jen, and sister Jess, is this week's Grade 1 in Japan. Good luck both

GB Girls in world top 100 this week (3): 6 Heather; 37 Laura; 74 Jen

GB Boys in world top 100 this week (6): 36 Oliver; 46 George; 64 Jack; 86 Ashley; 87 Tom A; 94 Tom F

Jess is on her way back!

Jessica Ren is closing in again on the world top 100 up to #106 this week. Went close to lifting the doubles title at the Grade 1 in Japan going down in two close sets in the final

Brit Girls in top 100 this week (3): 6 Heather; 38 Laura; 80 Jen Ren

In reality, Heather and Laura more interested in playing the seniors these days; happily Laura back in action this week after injury at a 25k in the USA with Heather there also and they teamed up for the dubs

Brit Boys in top 100 this week (6): 37 Oliver; 47 George; 66 Jack; 77 Tom A; 88 Ashley; 98 Tom F

Good luck everybody; boost those rankings please!

Big turn-out of Brit Boys (and a decent turn-out of Brit Girls) for this week's Grade 1 at Beaulieu sur Mer, France (volcanic ash cloud permitting! ). Direct Acceptances into the Main Draws are:

Boys: 3 Oliver Golding (GB #1; world #35); 7 George Morgan (GB #2; world #44); 13 Jack Carpenter (GB #3; world # 60); 17 Ashley Hewitt (GB #5; world #83); 19 Tom Farquharson (GB #6; world #93); 23 Richard Gabb (world # 124); 27 James Marselek (world #135); 29 Andrew Bettles (world #164)

Girls: 18 Lucy Brown (GB #5; world #115); 21 Natalie Beazant (GB #6; world #126); 23 Daneika Borthwick (GB #7; world #175); 27 Franscesca Stephenson (GB #8; world #202)

Good results for Ashley Hewitt, Jack Carpenter & Natalie Beazant

14th seed Ashley made it all the way through to the semis of the Grade 1 on clay at Beaulieu sur Mer whilst Jack made the QFs seeded 12 before going down to the top seed; Natalie likewise made the QFs where she went down to the top seed and, by so doing, broke into the top 100 for the first time.

Top 100 Brit Boys this week (6): 42 Oliver; 46 George; 59 Jack; 71 Ashley; 76 Tom A; 98 Tom F

Top 100 Brit Girls this week (4): 5 Heather; 38 Laura; 82 Jen; 95 Natalie [with Lucy Brown just outside on #101]

Well what 'dya know!

By a quirk of fate this week sees the number of Brit Girls and Brit Boys in the world top 100s even themselves out!

Boys in the top 100 this week (5): 41 Oliver Golding; 48 George Morgan; 61 Jack Carpenter; 72 Ashley Hewitt; 76 Tom Allen [and then Tom Farquharson who has just dropped outside at #101]

Girls in the top 100 this week (5): 5 Heather Watson; 37 Laura Robson; 81 Jennifer Ren; 94 Natalie Beazant; 100 Lucy Brown

Of these only Jen Ren is entered for this week's Grade 1 in Italy although Oliver, George, Tom A and Lucy are entered for the Italian Grade A next week.

That didn't last long!

Number of Brit Boys in the world top 100 has gone back up to 6 (with a 7th just outside at #101) whilst the Girls are back down to 3 again (albeit with a 4th at #101)

With junior Wimbledon just getting under way, worth noting the G1 at Roehampton was lifted by James Marsalek who leapfrogs up the latest rankings whilst Tara Moore had her very first junior outing of the year, having been concentrating on the senior circuit, and claimed a hatful of excellent wins, including beating recent world #3 Gavrilova 6-1 6-1 en route to being runner-up.

Brit Boys in world top 100 this week: 40 Oliver Golding; 44 George Morgan; 56 Jack Carpenter; 64 James Marsalek; 67 Ashley Hewitt; 74 Tom Allen [ and 101 Tom Farquharson]

Brit Girls in world top 100 this week: 17 Heather Watson; 77 Laura Robson; 86 Jen Ren [and 101 Lucy Brown]

Fantastic, lads!

An excellent junior Wimbledon for the Boys means the number of Brits in the world junior top 100 has bounced up to 8, yes EIGHT, in the new list today

OK, the likes of Heather Watson are giving the juniors a miss these days in favour of the senior events but even so the Boys are now 5 ahead on that measure!

C'mon, you Brit Girls!

Brit Boys in the top 100 (8): 29 Oliver Golding; 42 George Morgan; 61 Jack Carpenter; 66 James Marsalek; 69 Ashley Hewitt; 73 Tom Allen; 74 Liam Broady; 76 Tom Farquharson. [Last two the new Wimbledon junior doubles champions, of course! ]

Brit Girls in the top 100 (3): 18 Heather Watson; 44 Laura Robson; 88 Jen Ren

Good work, Liam

Biggest mover over the past fortnight is Liam Broady who picked up a grade 3 singles title on clay in the Czech Republic; not quite Wimby, but useful claycourt experience for the 16 year old who justified his top seeding including 3-setter wins in the SF and Final

Top 10 Brit Boys this week: 29 Oliver Golding; 44 George Morgan; 60 Jack Carpenter; 64 Liam Broady; 68 Ashley Hewitt; 70 James Marsalek; 75 Tom Farquharson; 80 Tom Allen; 148 Richard Gabb; 158 Christopher Simpson

Top 10 Brit Girls this week: 16 Heather Watson; 48 Laura Robson; 88 Jen Ren; 102 Lucy Brown; 109 Jess Ren; 111 Natalie Beazant; 150 Fran Stephenson; 178 Daneika Borthwick; 191 Elisha Gabb; 208 Tara Moore

The Girls close the gap!

A great run by Lucy Brown and Jen Ren through to the doubles semis of the B1 grade European junior championships held in Switzerland last week sees the number of Brit Girls in the world top 100 increase to 4 whilst Tom Allen has dropped out of the top 100 in the Boys' list...

Brit Girls in the world top 100 (4): 18 Heather, 48 Laura, 85 Jen, 93 Lucy (career high for Lucy )

Brit Boys in the world top 100 (7): 29 Oliver, 44 George, 63 Liam, 68 Ashley, 70 James, 74 Tom F, 88 Jack