Amandine 8-28-2007 14:09
Donald Young Captures First US Open Win
By Brian Cleary
Monday, August 27, 2007
When 18-year-old American Donald Young lost the first set Monday against Australia’s Chris Guccione in a tie-breaker, there was a sizeable portion of the crowd that headed for the exits, perhaps feeling Young was on his way to another disappointing first-round loss. Twice before, Young had been given a wild card into the US Open, as he was this year, and both times he lost in the first round. In fact, up until New Haven of last week, Young had been given a wild card into 11 tour-level events and lost in the first round each time.
But Young, displaying a maturity and grittiness honed at Challenger and Future-level events the past two years, would not be denied today. Giving up almost a foot and over 50 pounds to the 6-foot-7, 202-pound Australian, Young matched Guccione’s power and raised his speed and lightning-quick hands.
Young got his first break of the match with a screeching forehand return-of-serve winner to go up 2-0 in the second set. He would go on to break Guccione four more times to win his first US Open match, 6-7 (2), 6-3, 6-2, 6-3.
“It feels great to have won the match, the first three-out-of-five-set match I’ve won, my first one at the Open out of the three tries. It’s great," Young said after the match.
The truth is, while this win surprised a few people out here at the Open, Young has been making steady progress, particularly in the last two months. It started when he took the prestigious Wimbledon junior title in July. He followed that up with a win at a $50,000 Challenger event in Aptos, Calif. Then, at New Haven this past week, Young won his first tour-level match and then took Nikolay Davydenko, the No. 4-ranked player in the world, to three sets. Coming into the Open, Young was feeling confident.
“I mean, winning breeds winning," Young said of his success this summer. “When you win matches at any level, it helps you win at the other level.”
This confident talk is a tonic for people looking for Young to fulfill his promise as the “next great American player," a mantle he was handed when he was 15 and became the youngest male to end the year ranked as the No. 1 junior in the world. Young’s early struggles on the pro tour and his lack of height and size (he's listed as 5-foot-9 and 145 pounds) have created more than a few doubters in the tennis world that he would live up to these high expectations.
To his credit, Young seems to have things in perspective.
“I just think I wasn't physically developed," Young says of his early forays into the pro game, a level he turned to in 2004 at the age of just 15. “I had the strokes. I had the game. I thought I could play with them, but physically I couldn't last.”
Young says he’s a little closer to being ready to take on the top players on the tour. But he’s not about to place any further elevated expectations heading into his next match, where he will take on the 13th seed, Richard Gasquet.
“[Gasquet] is another great player," Young said. “I'm going to go out there and do well, hope to get a little lucky."
[img]http://www.usopen.org/images/pics/thumbs/t_0827_005_young.jpg[/img] [img]http://www.usopen.org/images/pics/thumbs/t_0827_006_guccione.jpg[/img]