Orlando's Jason Harnett Coaches Jr. Division to Gold Medal at the BNP Paribas World Team Cup

Americans have won back-to-back-to-back titles in the junior division at the BNP Paribas World Team Cup. The team, coached by Orlando-based Jason Harnett, led by veteran Conner Stroud (Rutherfordton, N.C.) and newcomers Nathan Melnyk (Long Island, N.Y.) and Joanna Nieh (New York, N.Y.), led the United States to the title at the Baia di Conte and Alghero Tennis Club in Sardinia, Italy

The World Team Cup is the ITF’s flagship wheelchair tennis event, often referred to as the Davis Cup and Fed Cup of wheelchair tennis.

The junior final would see Team USA and Russia battle back and forth. In the first match, USA’s Nathan Melnyk lost to Aleksei Shuklin, 6-2, 6-1. Needing a win to send the tie to the deciding doubles match, Conner Stroud defeated Sergei Lysov, 6-0, 6-1. The same four singles players would team up in the deciding doubles rubber. Melnyk and Stroud dominated the first set, winning 6-2. Early in the second set, the two Russian players collided with each other and Lysov injured his left elbow. He tried to carry on but at 4-2 down in the second set the Russian team retired due to injury giving the victory to the Americans.

The title was the third for Team USA in the past three years. Only the Netherlands has previously won three World Team Cup junior titles in a row, having done so between 2008 and 2010. World No. 4 wheelchair junior Stroud has been featured in all three of the U.S.’s victories.

Stroud, who finished the week undefeated in singles, said afterward he could not be more proud: “It’s such an honor to compete for Team USA and to now be a three-time World Champion is something that I could never have dreamed of. It just goes to show that all the training and hard work is paying off.”

“I thought our chances were not very good at the start of the tournament, but in the finals, I knew we had it,” said newly crowned world champion Melnyk.

“Being the two-time defending champs, everyone was gunning for us,” said junior team coach and USTA national head coach Jason Harnett. “This team really came together and we could not be more proud of the effort these kids put in to bring the title home once again. The future of American wheelchair tennis could not have a brighter future with this group of young athletes.”

After finishing eighth last year, the women’s team of Dana Mathewson (San Diego), Mackenzie Soldan (Tuscaloosa, Ala.) and Lauren Haneke-Hopps (San Diego) earned the bronze medal with a 2-0 victory over Switzerland. Soldan’s return to international wheelchair tennis for the first time since representing the U.S. in wheelchair basketball at the Rio Paralympics ended in a 7-5 3-6 6-2 victory over former world No. 5 Karin Suter-Erath to open the matchup. Mathewson wrapped Team USA’s third-place victory by defeating Gabriela Buehler, 6-0 6-1.

With the victory, the U.S. women returned to the World Team Cup medal podium for the first time since finishing as runner-up in 2003.

The closing ceremony was a momentous occasion for women’s head coach Paul Walker, who credited the depth of talent in U.S. women’s wheelchair tennis afterward. The women’s team was without two of its top players for the trip to Italy

“I am so very proud of these girls this week,” said Walker. “We started out ranked 10 in the tournament and ended up with a medal.”

The quad team improved on last year’s fifth place finish and finished strong, with a 2-0 singles sweep of the Japanese team in the bronze medal match. Nick Taylor (Wichita, Kan.) defeated Daisuke Ishito of Japan, 6-1, 6-1, to lead things off. David Wagner (Hillsboro, Ore.) played a much tougher opponent Shota Kawano. Wagner fought off two set points in the first set and closed by winning nine of the last 11 games to claim a 7-5, 6-2 victory and a bronze for Team USA. Bryan Barten (Tucson, Ariz.) also played an instrumental part in the earlier rounds to help the U.S. advance.

“Team USA exceeded my expectations this year,” Harnett said. “I could not be more proud of how hard and how passionate all three of our teams played. The women placing third after more than 10 years off the medal stand is absolutely phenomenal. The junior team with the hat trick of junior titles is something that I only dreamed of. The quads getting back to the medal stand also showed the heart that these guys have. Truly a great World Team Cup for team USA.”

After finishing outside the Top 12 at last year’s event, the men’s team was relegated to the World Team Cup qualifying event earlier this year in March in Quito, Ecuador. After finishing as the runners-up to Brazil, the men will have to wait until 2018 for a shot to win the World Team Cup qualifying event to make it back into the World Group.

The World Team Cup tournament brings together the world’s best wheelchair tennis players to compete in one of the world’s premier tennis team events. A total of 40 teams representing 29 countries took part in the 2017 competition.

The USTA was officially designated by the USOC as the national governing body for the Paralympic sport of wheelchair tennis in June 2002, becoming the first Olympic national governing body to earn this recognition. As the national governing body for wheelchair tennis, the USTA manages wheelchair tennis in the United States, including the sanctioning of tournaments, overseeing wheelchair rankings, creating and managing a High Performance program for developing elite disabled athletes, and selecting teams to compete internationally for the United States.

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The USTA is the national governing body for the sport of tennis in the U.S. and the leader in promoting and developing the growth of tennis at every level -- from local communities to the highest level of the professional game. A not-for-profit organization with more than 715,000 members, it invests 100% of its proceeds in growing the game. It owns and operates the US Open, the highest-attended annual sporting event in the world, and launched the US Open Series, linking eight summer tournaments to the US Open. In addition, it owns approximately 90 Pro Circuit events throughout the U.S. and selects the teams for the Davis Cup, Fed Cup, Olympic and Paralympic Games. The USTA’s philanthropic entity, the USTA Foundation, provides grants and scholarships and helps under-resourced youth and individuals with disabilities, and supports wounded, ill and injured service members, veterans and their families. For more information on the USTA, log on to usta.com, “like” the official Facebook page, facebook.com/usta, or follow @usta on Twitter.