The International Tennis Federation (ITF) has unveiled its Class of 2025, honoring five rising players whose dominant runs on the ITF World Tennis Tour translated into breakthrough success at the sport’s highest levels.
Canada’s Victoria Mboko, Indonesia’s Janice Tjen, Austria’s Lilli Tagger, Belgium’s Gilles Arnaud Bailly and Croatia’s Luka Mikrut were selected by an expert panel after standout seasons that marked them as the game’s next wave.
Chosen from a longlist of 19 candidates, the quintet joins a lineage that includes recent graduates Mirra Andreeva, Jakub Mensik, Learner Tien and Iva Jovic.
Mboko delivered one of the most dramatic ascents in women’s tennis this year, climbing from No. 333 at the start of the season to a career-high No. 18. She opened 2025 by ripping through the ITF circuit with five titles in quick succession, then carried that momentum straight onto the WTA Tour.
Her arrival became undeniable in August, when she captured the WTA 1000 title in Montreal, defeating four Grand Slam champions – Sofia Kenin, Coco Gauff, Elena Rybakina and Naomi Osaka – along the way. Mboko added another WTA trophy in Hong Kong, reached the third round at Roland Garros and made her Billie Jean King Cup debut, cementing her status as one of Canada’s brightest tennis hopes.
Tjen authored a historic season for Indonesian tennis, pairing volume with impact. She posted a 77–15 record, won eight ITF titles, and rattled off a 27-match winning streak that powered her rise to a career-best No. 53 in the WTA rankings.
Her breakthrough moments came on the sport’s biggest stages. At the U.S. Open, Tjen became the first Indonesian woman in a Grand Slam main draw since 2004 and stunned No. 24 seed Veronika Kudermetova. She later claimed her first WTA Tour singles title in Chennai – also lifting the doubles trophy – becoming Indonesia’s first WTA singles champion since 2001 and its highest-ranked female player in modern history.
Still a junior, Tagger proved she belongs among the pros. Starting the year ranked outside the top 750, she surged inside the top 200 behind three ITF titles and capped her junior career with the Roland Garros girls’ singles crown.
Her breakout moment arrived in China, where she reached the final of the Jiangxi Open as a wild card. At 17, Tagger became the youngest WTA finalist of the season, the lowest-ranked to reach a tour-level final, and the first player born in 2008 to do so – clear signals of elite potential.
Bailly’s rise was built on consistency and volume. He won five ITF titles, reached nine finals and logged 60 match victories – one of the highest totals on the circuit – while leaping from outside the top 800 to just beyond the ATP top 200.
Praised for his competitiveness, movement and match awareness, Bailly turned relentless week-to-week performances into a defining breakthrough season.
Mikrut’s year was a lesson in reset and response. After stalling late in 2024, he stepped back to the ITF level and immediately found his footing, winning four straight titles without dropping a set in March and April.
The confidence carried upward. Mikrut later captured his first two ATP Challenger titles, completing a resurgence that underscored the ITF World Tennis Tour’s role as a critical proving ground for professional growth.
