Donald Young (tennis)

Donald Young (tennis)
Donald Oliver Young Jr. (born July 23, 1989) is an American professional tennis and pickleball player with the American League PPA. Young had a career-high ATP singles ranking of World No. 38 achieved on 27 February 2012 and doubles ranking of No. 43 achieved on 14 August 2017. As a junior he was ranked No. 1 in the world in 2005. His best singles performance in the Grand Slams was reaching the fourth round of the 2011 US Open, as well as the 2015 US Open. In doubles he reached the final of the 2017 French Open partnering Santiago González.
Early life
Young began playing tennis at age three with mother, Illona, and father, Donald Sr., who are both tennis teaching professionals.
Career
Junior and early career
In 2001 he came in second to Jesse Levine in the U.S. Clay Court 14 Nationals in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. He was up 5-love in the third set of the final. Young had lost the first set, won the second, and was winning 5–0 and serving for the match at 40–15. Levine scored 23 consecutive points to defeat Young 7–5.
In 2003, Young won the Orange Bowl 16-under title (defeating Thron), becoming the first American to win that age division title since Jim Courier in 1986.
He turned professional in 2004; he played ATP Tour, Futures and Challenger events. Due to the slow start, his handlers were often criticized for pushing him too fast during the early stages. In 2004, Young reached the Orange Bowl 18-under final (l. to Neilly). He won the Easter Bowl 14s and 18s titles in 2003 and 2004 and was named as Davis Cup practice partner for the quarterfinal tie against Spain in 2007.
Young was, in 2005, ranked the No. 1 junior player in the world. Young was the youngest male to win a Grand Slam event, winning the Australian Open Junior Championships in 2005. Young also won the U.S. Open Junior Doubles Championship with Alex Clayton.
In 2005, he became the youngest year-end World No. 1 in junior rankings ever at 16 years, 5 months (one month younger than Richard Gasquet in 2002). Young won the Australian Open junior title at age 15 to become youngest-ever and first African-American man to be ranked No. 1 in the world. He was also the first American to win the Australian junior title and finish No. 1 since Andy Roddick in 2000. He advanced to the semifinals at Wimbledon and quarterfinals at the US Open in 2005. In doubles, Young won the junior US Open title (with Clayton) and reached the final at the Australian Open (with Thiemo de Bakker). In 2007, he won the Wimbledon junior title and was the first American to win since Scott Humphries in 1994. As No. 1, Young won the Kalamazoo U.S. Junior Championships in 2006, after Jesse Levine forfeited in the finals due to food poisoning.
2007: Breaking top 100
In January 2007, he reached the finals of a Futures tournament on the ITF Men's Circuit, as well as winning a Futures title in April. In July 2007, Young won the Junior Wimbledon title, beating top seed Vladimir Ignatik in the final. No American won the championship again until Noah Rubin in 2014. Shortly thereafter, Young won a Challenger tournament, and his ranking rose sharply to no. 221.
His rank rose sharply, from no. 92 to no. 7 on the Junior ITF circuit (as of July 13, 2007) after he won the Junior Wimbledon Championships. He opted to play only some of the Grand Slam tournaments in 2007 and concentrate on playing professional tournaments. On August 19, 2007, Young won his first ATP Tour level singles match. In the first round of New Haven, he beat fellow American Amer Delic in three sets. In the following round, he lost a tight three-setter to Russian Nikolay Davydenko. Young then received a wild card into the main US Open draw. On August 27, 2007, Young defeated Australian Chris Guccione in the first round. This was his first career victory in a Grand Slam match. On August 30, Young won his second-round match by default. It was against heavily favored opponent Richard Gasquet of France, who had fallen ill during the tournament and officially withdrew after morning practice. Young fell in the third round to unseeded Feliciano López of Spain in four sets.
Young carried the momentum into the fall, making it to the finals of four Challenger tournaments and posting an overall fall record of 21–7 on the Challenger circuit. This was enough to hoist him into the top 100 on the ATP rankings. He lost in the finals of the JSM Challenger in Champaign, Illinois, at the University of Illinois to Jesse Levine. His talents were recognized by the Association of Tennis Professionals in December 2007, as for Young was one of 11 honored in the 2007 Century Club
2008: Breaking top 75
In the Australian Open, Young lost in the first round to Michael Berrer in four sets. There were much higher hopes for Young as he made it to the quarterfinals of the tennis tournament in Memphis. Young defeated Sam Warburg and Alejandro Falla in the first and second rounds, respectively, before losing in a tough three-set match to Jonas Björkman. At Indian Wells, Young made it to the third round. He defeated Bobby Reynolds in the first round. Then in the second round, he took out 32nd seed, Feliciano López in three sets. He lost to eventual champion Rafael Nadal in the third round. He lost in the first round of the French Open, then lost a close four-set match in the first round at Wimbledon against Jesse Levine. At the Canadian Open, Young won two preliminary matches to qualify for the tournament, before dropping his first-round match to Gilles Simon. At the Countrywide Classic in Los Angeles, he defeated former world no. 2 Tommy Haas (ranked no. 40 at the time). In the first round of the US Open, Young lost to James Blake in a five-set thriller. He came back from down a break to win the fourth set. Although the final set was tied 4–4, with the help of two key calls overturned on challenges in the last two games, Blake won. Young won the Sacramento Challenger tournament on October 13, 2008.
2009
Young lost to Alejandro Falla in qualifying for Wimbledon. Young received a wildcard into 2009 Legg Mason Tennis Classic in Washington, D.C. He played against Lleyton Hewitt who won the match. In the qualifying competition for the 2009 US Open, he won his first match against Marco Crugnola. In the second, he beat Guillermo Olaso, and he won his third-round match against Lukáš Rosol to qualify. In the first round of the main draw, he was beaten by Tommy Robredo. He failed to qualify for the Thailand Open. However, he received a lucky loser spot and had a first-round bye. He lost in the second round to Andreas Beck. Young failed to qualify for the China Open. Young lost to Ilija Bozoljac in the first round of the Tiburon (CA) Challenger on October 12.
Young played Louk Sorensen in the first round of the Calabasas Challenger and won. He then defeated Taylor Dent and won his third-round match against Luka Gregorc. He then defeated Michael Yani and Michael Russell to win the Calabasas Challenger. Young won his first three matches at the Charlottesville (VA) Challenger against Vincent Spadea, Kevin Anderson, and Dominic Inglot. Young lost to Kevin Kim in the semifinals. Young defeated Jesse Levine in the first round of the Knoxville (TN) Challenger and Alex Kuznetsov in the second round. Young lost to Grega Žemlja in the quarterfinals.
Young defeated Jack Sock in the first round of the wild-card draw for the Australian Open. He then lost to Ryan Harrison in the second round.
2010
Young defeated Christophe Rochus in the first round of the 2010 Australian Open and was defeated in the second by Lleyton Hewitt. Young defeated Tim Smyczek in the first round of the Honolulu Challenger. Young then defeated Grigor Dimitrov and Robert Kendrick. He lost to Michael Russell in the semifinals as he retired. Young failed to qualify in Memphis, Delray Beach, Indian Wells, and Miami.
Young received a wild card into the main draw of the U.S. Men's Clay Championship, but lost to Kevin Anderson in the first round. Young received a wild card into the Baton Rouge Challenger and defeated Tatsuma Ito in the first round but lost to Go Soeda in the second round. Young lost to Carsten Ball in the first round of the Tallahassee Challenger. Young defeated Greg Ouellette in the 1st Round of the Savannah Challenger. Young then defeated Ryler DeHeart and Cătălin Gârd. He lost to Ryan Sweeting in the semifinals. Young lost to Joseph Sirianni in the first round of the Sarasota Challenger. Young defeated Robert Kendrick in the final of LA Tennis Open to win the Challenger. Young defeated Leonardo Tavares in the first round of the Ojai Challenger. Young then defeated Dayne Kelly and Luka Gregorc. He lost to Bobby Reynolds in the semifinals.
Young failed to qualify for Wimbledon. Young defeated Ryan Harrison in the first round of the Winnetka Challenger, and then he defeated Simon Stadler and Lester Cook. Young lost to Tim Smyczek in the semifinals. Young defeated Greg Jones in the first round of the Aptos Challenger. He then defeated Artem Sitak, Ilija Bozoljac, and Somdev Devvarman. Young lost to Marinko Matosevic in the final. In the first round of the Atlanta ATP Tournament, Young defeated Dudi Sela, but then lost to Kevin Anderson. Young failed to qualify for the Legg Mason. He lost to Ernests Gulbis in the first round in Cincinnati. Young defeated Stéphane Robert in the first round in New Haven, before losing to Juan Ignacio Chela in three sets. Young lost to Gilles Simon in the first round of the US Open. Young and partner Robert Kendrick won the doubles championship at the Virginia National Bank Challenger in November.
2011: US Open fourth round, Top 40
Young lost to Marin Čilić in the first round of the 2011 Australian Open. At the 2011 BNP Paribas Open Masters 1000 event in Indian Wells, he defeated his highest-ranked opponent to-date, Andy Murray (#4), winning in straight sets. In April, Young won the Tallahassee Tennis Challenger. He advanced to the second round of the 2011 Aegon International and the 2011 Aegon Championships. Young made it to his first ATP semifinal in August at the Washington, D.C. ATP 500 event.
At the 2011 US Open, Young defeated Lukáš Lacko in the first round, and in the second round world no. 14 Stanislas Wawrinka in his first five-set victory, in 4 hours and 21 minutes. He advanced to the third round in a Grand Slam for the first time in his career by defeating Juan Ignacio Chela in straight sets. Young was defeated in the fourth round by Andy Murray in a rain-delayed match.
At the start of October, Young triumphed over world no. 14 Gaël Monfils in a come-from-behind three-setter, before losing to Andy Murray in his first ATP final at the PTT Thailand Open.
He finished the year ranked in the top 40 at World No. 39, the highest year-end ranking in his career.
2012: Loss of form, Olympics debut
Young went 17 matches without a victory during 2012 before defeating Leonardo Mayer at the 2012 Winston-Salem Open.
He competed in the men's singles at the 2012 Summer Olympics.
At the US Open, he was defeated by top seed Roger Federer in the first round.
2013: Challenger tour success
Young failed to qualify for the 2013 Australian Open and for Wimbledon. He did qualify for the US Open and won his first-round match against Martin Kližan. Young won back-to-back ATP challenger tournaments at Napa Valley and Sacramento during late September and early October.
2014: Two major third rounds
Young received a wildcard into the 2014 Australian Open. He eventually made it to the third round and thus reached a ranking of No. 79 after the tournament.
Young represented the United States in a first round Davis Cup tie against Great Britain. He played one rubber and lost to Andy Murray in straight sets on clay inside Petco Park.
Young made it to the third round of the French Open, eventually losing in five sets to Guillermo García-López. Young made it to the semifinals of the Citi Open losing to the top ranked Canadian Milos Raonic.
2015: Fourth round of a major
Young reached the final in the Delray Beach Open, his first ATP singles final since 2011, but lost in straight sets to Ivo Karlović. In March 2015 Young played Andy Murray in a Davis Cup tie and lost in four sets, as well as losing to Murray again later in March in Miami.
At the 2015 US Open, Young became a darling of the American fans en route to matching his 2011 performance by reaching the round of 16. He notched dramatic come-from-behind victories against his first three opponents, triumphing in the third round via a thrilling five-set victory over 22nd-ranked Viktor Troicki. He then lost to fifth-seeded Stan Wawrinka in four sets, thus failing to advance to the quarterfinal stage, which would have marked a new career-best performance at a Grand Slam major. Prior to his final match of the tournament, some of Young's shoes reportedly went missing from his locker inside the Billie Jean King National Tennis Center.
2016–18: Early success, FO doubles final
2016 was an average year for Young with his best performance coming at the Hall of Fame Open with a semifinal appearance.
In early 2017, Young saw major success. Semifinal appearances at the Delray Beach Open and the Memphis Open were followed up by 4th round appearances at Indian Wells and the Miami Open. These results pushed his ranking to No. 42.
At the 2017 French Open, Young partnered with Santiago Gonzalez resulting in a run to the finals. He also registered 100 career singles victories in 2017.
At the 2018 Australian Open, he was the first round opponent for former world no. 1 Novak Djokovic, despite fighting hard he was defeated in straight sets. The 2018 US Open was his last grand slam to date. He lost in the first round to eventual finalist Juan Martín del Potro in straight sets.
2019–22: Dip in form and rankings
In 2019, Young only registered 2 matches on the ATP tour which both came in as losses. Throughout 2019–2022, his ranking would plummet all the way down to No. 646. He entered the 2021 Delray Beach Open qualifications as No. 327, his lowest ranking since his early teenage years at No. 335 on 4 June 2007. Ranked No. 646, he entered the qualifications also at the 2022 Atlanta Open as a wildcard where he defeated 8th seed J. J. Wolf before losing in the second round to Dominik Koepfer.
World TeamTennis
Young has played four seasons of World TeamTennis, making his debut in 2016 with the Philadelphia Freedoms, and playing another two seasons for the Freedoms in 2017 and 2019. It was announced he will be joining the Philadelphia Freedoms during the 2020 WTT season set to begin July 12.
He paired up with Fabrice Martin in men's doubles for the majority of the season, helping the Freedoms earn a No. 1 seed headed into the WTT Playoffs. The Freedoms would ultimately fall in the semifinals to the New York Empire, who continued on to win the Championship.
Equipment
He uses Dunlop now. He is sponsored by Boast for clothing and K-Swiss for footwear.
Significant finals
Grand Slam finals
Doubles: 1 (1 runner-up)
ATP career finals
Singles: 2 (2 runner-ups)
Doubles: 2 (2 runner-ups)
Challenger and Futures finals
Singles: 18 (9–9)
Doubles: 15 (6-9)
Performance timelines
Singles
''Current through the 2021 Delray Beach Open.
Doubles
Record against top 10 players
Young's match record against players who have been ranked No. 10 or higher, with those who have been ranked No. 1 in boldface.
Kevin Anderson 5–6
Tommy Haas 2–0
Daniil Medvedev 2–0
Alexander Zverev 2–0
Fabio Fognini 2–1
James Blake 2–2
Lucas Pouille 2–2
Stan Wawrinka 2–3
Grigor Dimitrov 2–5
Tomáš Berdych 1–0
Pablo Carreño Busta 1–0
Rainer Schüttler 1–0
Arnaud Clément 1–1
Juan Mónaco 1–1
Diego Schwartzman 1–1
Marcos Baghdatis 1–2
Jürgen Melzer 1–2
Gaël Monfils 1–2
John Isner 1–4
Andy Murray 1–5
Gilles Simon 1–5
Kei Nishikori 1–7
Jonas Björkman 0–1
Nikolay Davydenko 0–1
Juan Martín del Potro 0–1
Roger Federer 0–1
Tim Henman 0–1
Radek Štěpánek 0–1
Dominic Thiem 0–1
Mikhail Youzhny 0–1
Roberto Bautista Agut 0–2
David Ferrer 0–2
David Goffin 0–2
Ernests Gulbis 0–2
Lleyton Hewitt 0–2
Hubert Hurkacz 0–2
Tommy Robredo 0–2
Marin Čilić 0–3
Novak Djokovic 0–3
Rafael Nadal 0–3
Milos Raonic 0–3
Jack Sock 0–4
Fernando Verdasco 0–4
Wins over top 10 players
References
External links
Donald Young's Broken Promise: What Happened to the Former Phenom?
Young recent match results
Young world ranking history
Biofile profile interview with Donald Young
New York Times Donald Young article
1989 births
African-American male tennis players
American male tennis players
Australian Open (tennis) junior champions
Living people
Tennis players from Atlanta
Tennis players from Chicago
Tennis people from Georgia (U.S. state)
Tennis people from Illinois
US Open (tennis) junior champions
Wimbledon junior champions
Tennis players at the 2012 Summer Olympics
Olympic tennis players for the United States
Grand Slam (tennis) champions in boys' doubles
Grand Slam (tennis) champions in boys' singles
21st-century African-American sportspeople
20th-century African-American people
Pickleball players