He’s just 20, but it sure feels as if Donald Young has been in the (sometimes unforgiving) tennis spotlight for ages.
That can happen when you turn pro at age 15.
Young — who stalled at a career-high No. 73 in ’08 — has fallen short of the weighty expectations that were (fairly or unfairly) thrust upon his shoulders when he turned pro in ’04, inking high-profile deals with Nike and Head. Here was a kid with all the tools, all the strokes — a raw talent who seemed destined for Grand Slam greatness. A sure thing, right? But success hasn’t come as quickly as some predicted. In his six years as a pro, he’s gone a lackluster 11-39 on the ATP Tour. And after doling out the wildcards for several years, the USTA stepped in last summer and, in all intents and purposes, said enough is enough. The message arrived on Young’s doorstep in the form of a letter from the powers that be at the USTA.
The Chicago-born lefthander told reporters at the ’09 U.S. Open that USTA Player Development chief Patrick McEnroe & Co. said the support from White Plains (and the wildcards that come along with it) would all but evaporate if he didn’t break away from the cocoon-coaching of his parents — Illona and Donald, Sr. — who, for better or worse, have never let their son wander beyond their grasp.
“Where I come from, the family is a pretty big thing,” Young said.
Young stopped short of deeming it a falling out, saying, “We’re cool. We all talk. I don’t think they dislike me — it’s just a difference of opinion, how I need to develop.”
However, in his new book “Hardcourt Confidential,” McEnroe denies ever having tried to crop Donald’s parents out of his career picture. Said PMac, “[It’s] the one thing I knew not to do, even though it’s at the heart of the issue.”
What McEnroe claims he did write was that the USTA had been more than flexible with Young through the years, but that in order for him to take the next step he would need to leave the family compound in Atlanta and come train on a more full-time basis at the USTA Training Center in Boca Raton, Fla. His parents, Mac said, were welcomed to join him, but he made it clear that the USTA coaches would be calling the shots.
The U.S. Davis Cup captain also said that, despite a subsequent 45-minute telephone conversation with Donald Sr., there was still no meeting of the minds. McEnroe would tell him how his son “has no physical stature, he’s just not strong and fit enough…He has to accept our authority, and be willing to go out there and kill himself like these other guys do,” only to have Donald Sr. reply that McEnroe “was getting bad information from the assortment of USTA coaches.”
Now ranked outside the top 100 at No. 114, Young has been finding some success at Challengers. In May (with Illona courtside), he won his fifth career USTA Pro Circuit event, beating fellow American Robert Kendrick at the L.A. Men’s Open Challenger at the Home Depot Center in Carson. (Young’s last four Pro Circuit titles have come in California, as he previously won in Aptos/07, Sacramento/’08 and Calabasas/’09.)
So, for now at least, Donald Young has decided that blood is thicker than water. Only time will tell if he’s right. But time is something he still has working for him. After all, he’s still young.
