Eddie Herr International draws future tennis stars from around the world

In the early 2000s, Amar Vora reached the third round of the Eddie Herr International Junior Tennis Championships.

Playing in the boys 12s age division, Vora faced Donald Young, who has twice reached the round of 16 at the U.S. Open and is currently ranked 89th in the world on the ATP Tour.

Young isn’t the only pro to have participated in the annual international tennis tournament at IMG Academy, and Vora is still involved with the Herr in 2016.

Vora is the assistant tournament director for an event that is arguably the biggest tournament outside of the Grand Slams.

“It was cool to say that I had the opportunity to play and play someone like Donald Young,” Vora said.

There are four age divisions for the boys and girls, with the 18s being the only age group competing on clay when the main draw begins Monday in the tournament’s 30th edition.

The 12s, 14s and 16s compete on hard courts.

But the 18s offer an intriguing look at what tennis fans might see at the highest level.

Past champions at the Herr include Andy Roddick and Jelena Jankovic, for example, and this year’s favorite on the boys 18 side is IMG Academy trainee Miomir Kecmanovic, who is the No. 1-ranked boys player in the International Tennis Federation rankings.

Canadian Benjamin Sigouin, ranked No. 12, is the highest-rated player after Kecmanovic in the boys 18s, providing his biggest challenge.

On the girls 18s side, American Amanda Anisimova is the top-ranked player in the field at No. 5. She’s one of three players ranked inside the top 20 competing at the Herr starting Monday.

“There’s a lot of pro players that have come and played the tournament, and not won it,” Vora said.

This year’s tournament won’t have parking at Bayshore High, which is situated across the street from IMG’s entrance off 34th St. W.

Vora said parking is on the west side of IMG’s campus, and spectators will take a tram to see the hard court action. The cost for parking is $5 per car.

And what spectators will see is a unique gathering of players from around the world in four different age groups, which is something that doesn’t happen at every junior tennis tournament.

“This is the largest participant junior tournament in the world,” Vora said. “Points-wise and prestige-wise, it’s just outside the Slams.”

At the 18s level, the competition is pretty stiff and the surface is different than the other three age groups. Rather than competing on the traditional American hard court, competitors will duke it out on clay. And the clay is different than the European or South American version.

Vora said the clay the players will encounter is thicker than the fine, red clay found overseas.

“It’s a little bit faster than the red ones,” Vora said.

Matches begin daily at 8 a.m., with the finals slated for next Sunday.

This story was originally published November 27, 2016 at 11:24 AM with the headline "Eddie Herr International draws future tennis stars from around the world."