Road to the US Open Runs Through Kalamazoo
for USTA Boys’ 16 and 18 National Championships

For more than eight decades, the USTA Boys’ 16s and 18s National Championships, affectionately known as “Nats at the Zoo,” have been the gold standard of junior tennis in the United States. From August 1-10, the nation’s top boys will descend upon Kalamazoo College’s historic Stowe Stadium in Michigan, where legends have been made since 1946.

Few junior events carry as much weight. Across 10 days of intense, high-stakes tennis, players compete for more than just national titles, they play for a chance to reach the sport’s biggest stage. For many, it’s not just a tournament, it’s a ticket to Flushing Meadows. The stakes couldn’t be higher. The Boys’ 18s singles champion earns direct entry into the 2025 US Open main draw and the US Open Junior Championships main draw. The finalist receives a wild card into US Open qualifying and a spot in the Junior US Open Juniors main draw. The Boys’ 18s doubles champions will also compete in both the US Open men’s doubles main draw and the US Open Juniors doubles main draw. Meanwhile, the Boys’ 16s singles champion is awarded a wild card into the US Open Juniors main draw.

Both divisions feature deep, 192-player singles draws and 96-team doubles fields. Play begins Friday, August 1 with 18s singles and doubles and 16s doubles. The 16s singles competition kicks off Saturday, August 2, with championship matches slated for Saturday, August 9 (18s) and Sunday, August 10 (16s).

Much like the Billie Jean King Girls’ 16s and 18s National Championships taking place concurrently in San Diego, the Kalamazoo tournament represents one of the most prestigious and pivotal moments in junior tennis, especially for Southern Californians, who have long left their mark on this stage.

SoCal Players Represented at Nats at the Zoo

Southern California has long been a proving ground for future Kalamazoo champions. Nearly every American player who’s left their mark on the ATP Tour has passed through this tournament, and many have done so with SoCal roots. In 1987, a 15-year-old Michael Chang of San Diego defeated Palos Verdes native Pete Sampras in the singles final, just one year after Sampras battled through a grueling five-hour, 23-minute second-round 16s match, the longest in tournament history at the time. Years later, Camarillo twins Bob and Mike Bryan made doubles history by becoming the first duo to win back-to-back Kalamazoo titles since the 1940s.

In recent years, Southern California has all but owned the Boys’ 18s title at Kalamazoo, producing four consecutive champions from 2019 to 2023 (with the 2020 tournament canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic). The streak began with Pacific Beach’s Zach Svajda, who won the 2019 title at just 16, defeating fellow SoCal standout Govind Nanda of Redlands. The win earned him a US Open wild card, making him the youngest man in the main draw since Donald Young in 2005. Svajda defended his title in 2021, then scored his first Grand Slam main draw win in New York over world No. 81 Marco Cecchinato.

In 2022, Irvine’s Learner Tien, also 16, kept the SoCal streak alive with a four-set victory over Fresno’s Ethan Quinn in an all-California final: 7-6(7), 7-6(3), 5-7, 6-3. Like Svajda, Tien became the youngest player to appear in the US Open men’s singles main draw since Young.

Tien returned in 2023 and defended his title with a dominant win over Trevor Svajda, Zach’s younger brother. The milestone moment was especially meaningful for Trevor, who had never flown to a tournament before arriving in Michigan. After earning his first ATP point earlier that summer on the SoCal Pro Series, Tien’s breakout run to the final underscored the depth of Southern California’s rising talent.

As the 2025 edition gets underway, Southern California’s next wave of talent is ready to carry on the legacy—chasing history, chasing wild cards, and chasing a chance to shine in the US Open spotlight.

Boys’ 16s: A Glimpse Into the Future

The Boys’ 16s division in Kalamazoo is always a window into the future of American tennis, and this year, 21 players from Southern California are set to compete in singles, with many also entered in doubles. Leading the charge is a familiar face who’s already making headlines well beyond the junior ranks.

Andrew “Andy” Johnson, a 15-year-old from Rancho Palos Verdes, is no stranger to the spotlight. A blue-chip prospect and a rising star for Team SoCal, Johnson has been racking up titles for years. This spring, he was selected to represent the United States on the Junior Davis Cup team, and on July 4—fittingly, on home soil—he earned his first ATP Tour point at the SoCal Pro Series event held at the Jack Kramer Club, where he made his professional debut in front of family and friends. Johnson finished fifth at last year’s Boys’ 16s Nationals as a 14-year-old, winning the consolation final against Ryan Cozad, and returns this year as the tournament’s No. 2 seed.

Right behind him is his doubles partner from last year, Roshan Santhosh, the No. 3 seed in this year’s draw. The 16-year-old from Newbury Park also made his pro debut this summer, competing in three SoCal Pro Series events: the opener at Barnes Tennis Center, the second stop at the University of San Diego, and the third at Rancho Santa Fe Tennis Center. He earned main draw entries at all three but is still searching for his first ATP point. Santhosh made his Junior Grand Slam debut at Wimbledon earlier this month and has captured two ITF J100 titles this year in Las Vegas and Guatemala. With hard courts as his strongest surface, Kalamazoo should be a perfect fit for his game.

SoCal’s seeded talent doesn’t stop there. Ilias Bouzoubaa (San Diego), Aditya Pandey (Tustin), Peter Jorniak (Arcadia), and Kai Abarca (Laguna Hills) enter as the No. 17, 19, 28, and 33 seeds, respectively.

Several other standout SoCal juniors will be looking to make deep runs, including top finishers from the 123rd Annual USTA SoCal Junior Sectionals: Nile Ung (Del Mar), the Boys’ 16s champion; JiHyuk Im (Irvine), the finalist; and semifinalists Adrian Sharma (Porter Ranch) and Zander Abrams (South El Monte). Im also took home the Boys’ 16s doubles title last fall at the 122nd Annual Jim Hillman SoCal Sectional Doubles Championships, while Sharma was crowned Boys’ 14s doubles champion.

Adding depth to the already impressive SoCal roster are several rising talents from across the region, including San Diego County’s Ian Sweeney (La Jolla), Kona Parseghian (La Jolla), and Ryan Wang (San Diego). Orange County, Los Angeles County, and Riverside County are also well-represented, with Nikhil Bommaiah (Tustin), Gavin Maddan (Murrieta), Paxton Au (Manhattan Beach), Aiden Zadeh (Los Angeles), Jaidyn Finley (La Crescenta), Maximiliano Roca (Rolling Hills Estates), and Takuto Goh (Culver City) rounding out the deep SoCal contingent.

With a loaded lineup of seeds, proven performers, and up-and-coming threats, Southern California will be a force to watch in the Boys’ 16s draw, one that could very well define the future of the sport.

Boys’ 18s: SoCal’s Rising Stars Step Into the Spotlight

A talented group of 24 junior players will represent Southern California in this year’s Boys’ 18s singles division, bringing momentum, big-match experience, and standout results into one of the most prestigious events in junior tennis.

Leading the charge is Keaton Hance, a 17-year-old from Torrance, who placed third in last year’s Boys’ 16s division after an all-SoCal battle against Irvine’s Rishvanth Krishna. Now, both players return in the Boys’ 18s draw—Hance as the No. 6 seed and Krishna as No. 33—ready to take on a deeper field and even bigger opportunity.

For Hance, a national title would mean more than just hardware, it would earn him his first appearance in a Grand Slam main draw. The future Texas Longhorn has already competed in three of the four Junior Grand Slams. He made his debut at the 2024 US Open, earning a wild card into qualifying and winning two rounds to reach the main draw in singles, while also competing in doubles. He continued to build momentum this season: seeded No. 16 at Roland Garros, Hance reached the second round in singles and made the doubles semifinals alongside partner Jack Kennedy. At Wimbledon, Hance recorded his best Junior Grand Slam singles performance yet, advancing to the third round, and reached the second round in doubles once again with Kennedy. Earlier this year, he captured the biggest ITF junior title of his career at the J300 Barranquilla, and in April, notched his first professional ATP point with a quarterfinal run at the Vero Beach Futures event.

Krishna, meanwhile, enters Nationals fresh off winning the Boys’ 18s title at the USTA SoCal Junior Sectionals, defeating Irvine’s Pavel Bushuev, who will also be in the draw. They’ll be joined by several of SoCal’s top Junior Sectional finishers, including semifinalist Adam Bain (Indian Wells) and quarterfinalists Siddharth Bharadwaj (Irvine) and Oskar Rouse (San Diego), all looking to make a deep run on the national stage.

Nav Dayal of Long Beach, seeded No. 19, is the second-highest SoCal seed in the 18s draw. Dayal competed in five SoCal Pro Series events this summer, with his best showing coming at the Jack Kramer Club, where he reached the second round of the main draw.

Also among the contenders is Tyler Lee of Tustin, a standout at the USTA Spring Championships—better known as the Fila Easter Bowl—where he earned a Silver Ball in singles and captured a Gold Ball in doubles. In the doubles final, Lee and his partner defeated William Kleege of San Diego, who will also be competing in Kalamazoo.

Nischal Spurling (Los Angeles), the No. 25 seed, adds further strength to the SoCal lineup, while other top players to watch include David Wu (San Diego), Benjamin Berger (Laguna Beach), Justin Riley Anson (Laguna Niguel), and Gray Kelley (Chatsworth).

The rest of the Southern California contingent features a mix of seasoned competitors and rising talents: Andrew Li, Robert Yang, and Darren Wei (San Diego), Adrien “AJ” Abarca (Chula Vista), Liam Alvarez and Justin Yuan (Long Beach), Matteo Huarte (Tustin), Alex Croitoru (Irvine), Ford McCollum (Los Angeles), and Luca Ostovany (Santa Barbara).

With proven performers, recent champions, and bold newcomers in the mix, Southern California’s Boys’ 18s squad is poised not just to contend, but to leave a lasting impact on Kalamazoo.