From the Sun-Sentinel (Charles Bricker's blog):
This was perhaps my 10th or 11th meeting with Donald Young and every time you sit down with this kid you come away with such a pastiche of emotions. He's a great teenager, never full of himself, never rude, never elitist. If you're a parent, as I have been for several decades, this is the kid you want to have.
So, it's a pleasure talking to him. Whether it's about his growth (he's now nearly 5-foot-11) or what it was like having been a premie (he was barely two pounds at birth and spent a week in an incubator before going home). And then there's his tennis. At 14, when he was smaller and exhibiting that wonderful range of shots and precocious understanding of the game, I had the same hopes everyone else did that he could develop into a top player.
There was always the issue of his size, but it was easy to think that he could become physically stronger. Today, however, at 16, he's slender and he doesn't have that one weapon he can rely on to seize control of matches against physically stronger ATP pros. He's a counter-puncher whose sense of the game is more refined than some players much his senior.
But there's a very serious question about his ability to make it on the ATP tour. You hope he does because he's such an astute young man. But the reality is, as you look at him today, he's not good enough to be out here no one is doing him any favors by offering him wild cards.
His father, Donald Sr., says judge him when he's 17, 18 or 19. There have been late bloomers on this tour. Todd Martin went to college because he wasn't good enough to turn pro and so did James Blake. But those two men have a physical presence Donald probably never will have.
I think Donald is going to have a career in tennis, eventually. But he's not the next great American player IMG and several naive newspaper reporters have suggested he is. He's not even close.
i think that giving up on a person is wrong. donald young is a serious 16 year old who has a wonderful heart and mind. who cares if hes not winning right now, in a few years he will be great. hey im only 13 and i play tennis in north carolina and i also got to meet donald at his acaemy. he is one of the nicest people ever. you probably would think that he would be big headed but not him. hes wonderful.
Posted by: Gabby | August 13, 2006 at 03:52 PM
i think that giving up on a person is wrong. donald young is a serious 16 year old who has a wonderful heart and mind. who cares if hes not winning right now, in a few years he will be great. hey im only 13 and i play tennis in north carolina and i also got to meet donald at his acaemy. he is one of the nicest people ever. you probably would think that he would be big headed but not him. hes wonderful.
Posted by: Gabby | August 13, 2006 at 03:52 PM
i think that giving up on a person is wrong. donald young is a serious 16 year old who has a wonderful heart and mind. who cares if hes not winning right now, in a few years he will be great. hey im only 13 and i play tennis in north carolina and i also got to meet donald at his acaemy. he is one of the nicest people ever. you probably would think that he would be big headed but not him. hes wonderful.
Posted by: Gabby | August 13, 2006 at 03:52 PM
U kidding me man!!! hes 16, now how do u no at 16 was a physical presents on court? comon he has at least 3 more years to work out and get inshap and gain a few pounds. I mean sampras was a runt and so was blake u are realy not smart
Posted by: charlie | October 23, 2006 at 08:30 PM