Orange Bowl (tennis)
The Orange Bowl International Tennis Championships, known as the Dunlop Orange Bowl International Tennis Championships from 2008 to 2013 with Dunlop as the title sponsor, and renamed the Metropolia Orange Bowl International Tennis Championships from 2013 onwards, is a prestigious junior tennis tournament, one of five that are rated by the ITF as 'Grade A'. Established in 1947 in Miami Beach, the tournament has for years featured both boys and girls singles and doubles draws at both '18 and under' and '16 and under' age categories. From 1999 to 2010, the tournament had been held each December at Crandon Park in Key Biscayne, Florida. Since 2011, it has been held at the Frank Veltri Tennis Center in Plantation, Florida.
History
The Orange Bowl Tennis Championship began at Flamingo Tennis Center, Miami Beach. This facility, still in use today, hosted the tournament until 1998, when it was moved to its current site at Crandon Park in Key Biscayne, Florida. The Orange Bowl was started by Eddie Herr, who wanted to bring some winter competition to South Beach for his tennis playing daughter, Suzanne. The tournament soon grew in prestige and importance, being considered the initiation rite of future world tennis champions. Decades of tournament winners are posted on a brass plaque at the entrance to Flamingo Tennis Center.Players who have competed at the Orange Bowl reads as a virtual who's who of modern tennis, including Andre Agassi, Arthur Ashe, Boris Becker, Björn Borg, Jimmy Connors, Jim Courier, Stefan Edberg, Chris Evert, Roger Federer, Steffi Graf, Justine Henin, Ivan Lendl, Hana Mandlíková, Andy Roddick, Gabriela Sabatini, Monica Seles, Guillermo Vilas, and Mats Wilander. As of 2017, Miami's Mary Joe Fernandez is the only player, male or female, to win in every age division of the Orange Bowl and Junior Orange Bowl tournaments: 12s, 14s, 16s, and 18s. However, Miami's Lynn Epstein, won the 12s, 14s and skipped the 16s to play up winning the 18s two years in a row. Epstein is the only player, to this day, to have achieved this feat.
In 1983, during the tournament's heyday, a professional stadium was built in Flamingo Park. The Abel Holtz stadium seated 9,000 fans. During the 1990s however, Flamingo Park Tennis Center fell victim to poor maintenance. The standards of the Orange Bowl could not be maintained so in 1999 the tournament was moved to the Tennis Center at Crandon Park in Key Biscayne, home of today's professional tour event, the Miami Open. Fortunately, the City of Plantation has restored the Orange Bowl Tournament's allure and luster, hosting the best administered and best managed tournament in decades. .
Recently, there has been a tennis revival in Miami Beach. A $5.5M master plan to renovate the Flamingo tennis facility has begun. The project includes a new tennis building and 17 clay hydro-courts. A large bronze plaque containing the names of all the great tennis champions who began their career playing in the tournament in Flamingo park will be restored, along with a plaque honoring local players who went on to tennis fame, such as Jerry Moss.
Since 1962, the two younger age groups are held at a separate site in Coral Gables. Hence today, the Junior Orange Bowl is in Coral Gables. And the Orange Bowl has moved in 2011 from Miami to Plantation, FL thus changing surfaces from Hard Courts to Clay, the first time since 1998 that the tournament will be on clay.
Dunlop has been the tournament's title sponsor since 2008. From 2013 onwards, Metropolia International Holdings became the title sponsor of the tournament.
Tournament features
Players must be at least 13 years old to compete, unless competing in the 12 and unders.Past champions
Singles champions
| Year | Boys, 18 and under | Girls, 18 and under | Boys, 16 and under until 1962, 15 and under | Girls, 16 and under until 1962, 15 and under |
| 1947 |  Lew McMasters | Joan Johnson | Dick Holroyd | Joan Woodberry |
| 1948 | Tommy Boys |  Elita Ramírez | Bobby Sierra | Toby Greenberg |
| 1949 | Gil Bogley | Elaine Lewicki |  Reynaldo Garrido | Suzanne Herr |
| 1950 | Jacque R. Grigry | Toby Greenberg | Al Harum | Meta Schroedel |
| 1951 | Sam Giammalva | Karol Fageros | Jerry Moss | Leigh Hay |
| 1952 | Eddie Rubinoff | Karol Fageros | Esteban Reyes Jr. |  Rose Marie Reyes |
| 1953 | Mike Green | Pat Shaffer | Jimmy Skogstad | Pat White |
| 1954 | Allen Quay | Marilyn Stock | Earl Buchholz Jr. | Sandra Lewis |
| 1955 | Mike Green | Mimi Arnold | Earl Buchholz Jr. | Gwyneth Thomas |
| 1956 |  Carlos Fernandes | Mary Ann Mitchell | Ray Senkowski | Gail DeLozier |
| 1957 | Chris Crawford | Maria Esther Bueno | Mike Neely | Frances Farrar |
| 1958 | Ronnie Barnes | Carol Hanks | Clark Graebner | Carol Ann Prosen |
| 1959 |  José Luis Arilla | Sandy Warshaw |  Charlie Pasarell | Julie Heldman |
| 1960 | William Lenoir | Carole Ann Prosen |  Mike Belkin | Stephanie DeFina |
| 1961 | Mike Belkin | Judy Alvarez |  Shyam Minotra | Stephanie DeFina |
| 1962 |  Tony Roche | Stephanie DeFina | Bill Harris | Peaches Bartkowicz |
| 1963 | Thomaz Koch | Peaches Bartkowicz | Charles Brainard | Vicki Holmes |
| 1964 | Marcello Lara | Peaches Bartkowicz | Zan Guerry | Carol Hunter |
| 1965 |  Ismail El Shafei | Peaches Bartkowicz | Mac Claflin | Carol Hunter |
| 1966 | Manuel Orantes | Peaches Bartkowicz | Charles Owens | Linda Tuero |
| 1967 | Mike Estep | Patti Hogan | Woody Blocher |  Kazuko Sawamatsu |
| 1968 | Richard Stockton |  Patricia Montana |  Guillermo Vilas | Chris Evert |
| 1969 | Harold Solomon | Chris Evert | John Whitlinger | Laurie Fleming |
| 1970 | Harold Solomon | Chris Evert | Billy Martin | Sandy Stap |
| 1971 |  Corrado Barazzutti | Donna Ganz |  Björn Borg | Jeanne Evert |
| 1972 | Björn Borg | Donna Ganz |  Hans Gildemeister | Robin Tenney |
| 1973 | Billy Martin |  Mima Jaušovec |  Christophe Casa | Zenda Liess |
| 1974 | Billy Martin | Lynn Epstein | Van Winitsky | Zenda Liess |
| 1975 | Fernando Luna | Lynn Epstein | Bobby Berger | Jennifer Balent |
| 1976 | John McEnroe |  Marise Kruger |  Ivan Lendl | Mary Lou Piatek |
| 1977 | Ivan Lendl | Anne Smith | Scott Davis | Hana Mandlíková |
| 1978 | Gabriel Urpí | Andrea Jaeger | Thierry Tulasne | Michelle DePalmer |
| 1979 |  Raúl Viver | Kathleen Horvath | Mats Wilander | Pamela Casale |
| 1980 | Joakim Nyström | Susan Mascarin | Michael Kures | Barbara Bramblett |
| 1981 | Roberto Argüello | Penny Barg | Carlos Chalbalgoity | Raffaella Reggi |
| 1982 | Guy Forget | Carling Bassett | Stefan Edberg | Claudia Hernández |
| 1983 | Kent Carlsson | Debbie Spence | Bruno Orešar | Shawn Foltz |
| 1984 | Ricky Brown | Gabriela Sabatini |  Horst Skoff | Mary Joe Fernandez |
| 1985 | Claudio Pistolesi | Mary Joe Fernandez | Arnaud Boetsch | Sybille Niox-Château |
| 1986 | Javier Sánchez | Patricia Tarabini | Jim Courier | Alexia Dechaume |
| 1987 | Jim Courier |  Natalia Zvereva |  Paul Dogger | Florencia Labat |
| 1988 |  Marc Rosset | Carrie Cunningham | Fabrice Santoro | Sylvie Sabas |
| 1989 | Fernando Meligeni | Luanne Spadea | Juan Garat |  Svetlana Komleva |
| 1990 | Andrei Medvedev | Pilar Pérez | Àlex Corretja |  Petra Kamstra |
| 1991 | Marcelo Charpentier | Elena Likhovtseva | Gonzalo Corrales |  Andrea Glass |
| 1992 | Vincent Spadea |  Barbara Mulej |  Rene Nicklisch |  Emanuela Sangiorgi |
| 1993 | Albert Costa | Ángeles Montolio | Mariano Zabaleta | Stephanie Halsell |
| 1994 | Nicolás Lapentti | Mariam Ramón | Markus Hipfl | Nathalie Dechy |
| 1995 | Mariano Zabaleta |  Anna Kournikova | Dario Sciortino |  Ana Alcázar |
| 1996 | Alberto Martín | Ana Alcázar | Julien Jeanpierre |  Elena Dementieva |
| 1997 | Nicolás Massú | Tina Pisnik | Guillermo Coria | Lourdes Domínguez Lino |
| 1998 | Roger Federer | Elena Dementieva | Tommy Robredo | Marta Marrero |
| 1999 | Andy Roddick | María José Martínez Sánchez | Giovanni Lapentti |  Raluca Ciochină |
| 2000 |  Todor Enev | Vera Zvonareva | Brian Dabul |  Marion Bartoli |
| 2001 | Robin Söderling | Vera Zvonareva |  Florin Mergea | Whitney Deason |
| 2002 | Brian Baker | Vera Dushevina |  José Luis Muguruza | Charlène Vanneste |
| 2003 |  Marcos Baghdatis |  Nicole Vaidišová | Donald Young | Alexa Glatch |
| 2004 | Timothy Neilly | Jessica Kirkland | Emiliano Massa |  Florencia Molinero |
| 2005 | Robin Roshardt |  Caroline Wozniacki | Georgi Rumenov Payakov |  Oksana Kalashnikova |
| 2006 | Petru-Alexandru Luncanu | Nikola Hofmanova | Grigor Dimitrov | Allie Will |
| 2007 |  Ričardas Berankis |  Michelle Larcher de Brito | Bernard Tomic | Lilly Kimbell |
| 2008 | Yuki Bhambri | Julia Boserup | Denis Kudla | Chanelle Van Nguyen |
| 2009 | Gianni Mina | Gabriela Dabrowski | Alexios Halebian | Breaunna Addison |
| 2010 |  George Morgan | Lauren Davis | Laurent Lokoli | Alexandra Kiick |
| 2011 |  Dominic Thiem |  Anett Kontaveit |  Chung Hyeon |  Erin Routliffe |
| 2012 |  Laslo Đere |  Ana Konjuh | Andrey Rublev | Gloria Liang |
| 2013 | Frances Tiafoe | Varvara Flink | Chung Yun-seong | Charlotte Robillard-Millette |
| 2014 | Stefan Kozlov | Sofia Kenin | Sam Riffice | Bianca Andreescu |
| 2015 | Miomir Kecmanović | Bianca Andreescu | Sebastián Báez | María Lourdes Carlé |
| 2016 | Miomir Kecmanović |  Kaja Juvan | Steven Sun | Katie Volynets |
| 2017 | Hugo Gaston | Whitney Osuigwe |  Nicholas David Ionel | Katriin Saar |
| 2018 |  Otto Virtanen | Coco Gauff | Pablo Llamas Ruiz | Madison Sieg |
| 2019 | Thiago Agustín Tirante | Robin Montgomery | Daniel Rincón | Ashlyn Krueger |