The Orange Bowl Junior Cup, for which young players from 20 nations competed this month in Miami, is the nearest thing in tennis to a junior Davis Cup. With the Australians absent, Spain beat South Africa for the cup this year, and the most impressive player undoubtedly was José Arilla, a stocky 18-year-old Spanish air force recruit whose father used to be caretaker of the Barcelona Tennis Club.
Spain's success came as no surprise to those who have kept a close eye on international tennis. Arilla was a sensation last year in Australia (he has beaten both Australia's Rod Laver and Sweden's Ulf Schmidt), and his teammate Juan Gisbert, son of a Barcelona hotel owner, is an impressive competitor, too. For Arilla, victory in Miami was "the biggest thrill of my life."
The U.S. juniors lost to South Africa in the semifinals, but Arilla advanced an alibi: "You did not have all your best in Miami." In his judgment, American youngsters ought to be the best in the world "because you have so many public courts."
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