The IC of Argentina qualify for the IC Rod Laver Junior Challenge World Finals 2027

The South American qualifying event for the 2026 IC Rod Laver Junior Challenge took place on 13-16 July 2026 and brought together teams from the ICs of Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile and Uruguay at the Carrasco Lawn Tennis Club in Montevideo. Hosted by the IC of Uruguay, the event combined high-quality junior tennis with the International Clubs' enduring values of friendship, sportsmanship and international fellowship.

Despite weather forcing a revised schedule, the competition was completed successfully over three days. The IC of Argentina produced consistently outstanding tennis throughout the tournament, defeating the IC of Uruguay (1) by 5–1 in a closely contested final to secure qualification for the IC Rod Laver Junior Challenge World Finals. The IC of Bolivia in particular made an impressive debut in the competition after the creation of the IC in 2025, finishing in third place ahead of the ICs of Chile, Brazil and Uruguay (2).

Off the court, the event reflected the IC spirit through a welcome reception, social activities and a community tennis clinic with children from the IC of Uruguay's "Growing up with Tennis" programme, where players shared their skills and experiences with young participants.

The Sportsmanship Awards, voted for by the team captains, recognised Maria E. Moretti (Brazil) and Andree Montellano (Bolivia) for their exemplary sportsmanship. The tournament concluded with a light-hearted captains' doubles match, providing a fitting celebration of the friendships forged throughout the week.

You can view the full tournament report, photos and video below.

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Richard Cousins, CEO, Compass Group

Members of the International Lawn Tennis Club all over the world will be sorry to learn of the sudden and tragic death in an air crash, of Richard Cousins, the CEO of Compass Group and his family, over the New Year period. Richard was a great friend to the IC.

He was extremely supportive of the International Club’s Junior Challenge, our world-wide event for 16yr-old tennis players, sponsorship agreements for which he inherited from previous chairmen, Sir Francis McKay and later Sir Roy Gardner.

For the last fourteen years Compass Group has sponsored this event to an ever-increasing extent.

From 2016, Compass increased their support once again and were given the title sponsorship and it has become known all over the world as “The Compass IC Junior Challenge”, with more than 1000 junior international players having participated to date. This has often given juniors their first invaluable taste of international competition.

An under-privileged clinic takes place the day before each Challenge, which is led by the young tennis players taking part, which serves as a salutary lesson to them and the Compass Group were particularly keen on this aspect.

Richard had recently advised that he was retiring in March 2018 and that unfortunately, Compass would no longer be able to sponsor the IC Junior Challenge from 2019 onwards.

Obviously, this was not good news, but we will always be extremely grateful for the tremendous support the IC has received from Richard and the Compass Group up to this year, to enable us to stage this important IC event for aspiring youngsters.

Our thoughts go out to his extended family and his work colleagues who may rest assured that he will be remembered fondly during the Junior Challenge finals in Tokyo later this year.

Julian Tatum

NB The world-wide final of The Compass IC Junior Challenge takes place in Tokyo, Oct 6-12th 2018.