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' (under-19) and '16 and under' (under-17) 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.

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. Until this day however, 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, actually besting Fernandez' record.

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