By Richard Pagliaro | Tuesday, February 16, 2015
Donald Young defeated Ivan Dodig, 7-5, 7-5, to reach the Delray Beach second round.
Photo credit: Christopher Levy (@tennis_shots)
Delray Beach, Fla. — The ball clung to the top of the tape for a split second with the suspense of a pending match point hanging in the balance.
Then the ball plopped back over Ivan Dodig's side of the net like a single splotch of yellow paint on a blue canvas giving Donald Young match point. When Dodig spun a double fault long, Young completed a 7-5, 7-5 opening-round victory.
On a day in which teenagers made history in Delray, former prodigy Young made progress.
The straight forward scoreline doesn't suggest the adventure — or tricky conditions — Young navigated to reach the second round for the fourth time this season.
The 56th-ranked American advanced to the Memphis Open semifinals last week, falling to 15th-ranked Kevin Anderson. Young also reached the Memphis doubles final with partner Artem Sitak. With an impending snow storm looming, Young and his father drove from Memphis back home to Atlanta then boarded a plan for south Florida.
He arrived in Delray Beach on Monday in time for a 45-minute practice session then had only about 30 minutes on court today before facing Australian Open doubles semifinalist Dodig for the first time. Young faced much more chaotic conditions than the calm of the indoor Memphis event.
Fighting through a three double fault game, Young held for 5-4 with a forehand winner. Young broke to seal the opening set on successive backhand errors from Dodig. While Young's second serve can be shaky — he served 47 percent and hit eight double faults — and he has a habit of hitting his two-handed backhand short in the court, he was hitting all the angles with his forehand, moving fluidly and took the initiative at crunch time, often stepping into the court and attacking net.
"Ivan is a good player, a solid player," Young said. "He's been Top 30 in the world, made some finals of Slams in doubles. He's a very experienced player. It's a good win for me, especially coming from Memphis. The wind, it was really windy, the conditions we very tough. I was able to get through, so I'm happy with the myself. That's something that I struggled with a bit before."
Young was one of three American men to advance during the day session, joining Steve Johnson and Tim Smyczek in round two. The seventh-seeded Johnson led Mikhail Kukushkin, 6-3, 4-1, when Kukushkin retired due to illness. Smyczek ran down a drop shot and pushed his reply up the line breaking to take the opening set of his 7-5, 6-2 victory over 17-year-old wild card Stefan Kozlov from Pembrook Pines, Fla. It was a much tougher day at the office for compatriot Sam Querrey, who was forced to withdraw with a back injury.
The 36th-ranked Querrrey won the first set against Alejandro Gonzalez, 6-3, and was down 1-2 in the second set when he suffered a back injury reaching for a low backhand volley. Querrey took an injury time-out and tried to stretch out his back, but was in clear pain and could not continue, retiring after 55 minutes of play.
"I think I had a sudden movement at the net and kind of jerked my back a little bit," Querrey said. "It’s an injury that I felt before, but never on a specific motion like this. My lower back just kind of tightened up, and I can’t really move it in any direction."
For the first time in tournament history, three teenagers—qualifiers Thanasi Kokkinakis and Yoshihito Nishioka and 17-year-old wild card Andrey Rublev —advanced to the second round. Rublev recorded his first ATP World Tour victory with a 6-4, 1-6, 6-3 decision over Dudi Sela.
“It’s an unreal feeling to win my first ATP match,” said Rublev, who won the Roland Garros junior title last year and is now ranked No. 370 at the age of 17 years, three months. “I’m so grateful for the wild card.”
The last time at least two teenagers reached the second round of a 32-player ATP main draw was at the 2007 Indianapolis tournament.
Young knows all about the excitement — and expectation — that comes from teenage success.
"For sure I just think that everyone kinds of comes into their own at different times," Young said. "Some people do it a lot earlier than others, which is preferred. But it kind of happens when it happens for you or it doesn't happen at all. But if it happens at some point it's excciting. I'm just playing well, just focusing on day to day. Hopefully I'll get to where I want to be, but it's a process."
There are now nine teenagers in the ATP Top 200. Once, Young was the hot, young prospect. A decade ago, Young became the youngest year-end World No. 1 in the junior rankings at the age of 16 years, 5 months. Initially, he struggled making the transition to the pro game facing bigger, stronger opponents who could grind him down. Young says that trying transition taught him the importance of fitness and patience.
"For sure, the physicality and maturity is a big thing," Young said. "For me, I didn't ever start to hit the gym hard until I was older. I could have done it younger. When you get older you get the full men's body, the muscles are a little denser. [As a teenager] basically you're a kid and playing full grown men. In a match [when you're a teenager] you can beat some guys on skill but then you get into a wrestling match with some of them, which you don't want to get into."
In recent years, Young has worked on his fitness. He's much more thickly muscled now. And while he says his conditioning is still a work in progress, it helped him in the latter stages against the 30-year Croat, who was bending over at times in the final games to catch his breath.
"[Fitness helps because] you don't have to pull the trigger as quickly," Young said. "It a definitely gives you more peace out there and a lot of confidence out there because you know in the back of your mind if this match goes two hours, I'm going to be ready. It's something I can still improve on , but something I think that's helped me."