johnny ballgame
Professional
and everyone else below #73. Take care of business, DY!
Donald Young ranked higher than Safin, Del Potro, Gulbis, Clement...
- Thread starter johnny ballgame
- Start date
He should should try to qualify for the main events - that would be the best use of his time.
subtleskeptics
Rookie
Australian Open
edmondsm
Legend
I think so too. Looking at these qualifying draws, he would have had just as good a chance as anyone to get through. I can understand playing the Bermuda challenger but right now there is no good reason to not be in Europe.
johnny ballgame
Professional
Because of the time lag. I think entry is based on your ranking about six weeks before the actual event?
edmondsm
Legend
Yeah there is that whole thing.
In any case, I hope he is planning on going to Europe soon. He's not going to find much in the way of cash and points in the US. And if he wants to get a win or two at the FO or Wimbledon then he would be best served by getting the jet lag behind him.
edmondsm
Legend
Yes but Gulbis and Del Potro are his age and have been highly touted. So being ranked above them gives Donald Young some legitimacy that he desperately needed.
atatu
Legend
The sad thing is, he should have won a lot more....
dima
Banned
No he shouldn't.
babolatking
Rookie
yea safin has come and gone.. but got 2 slams so his legacy is already established
Bogie
Hall of Fame
true but look at what gulbis and del potro have accomplished. gulbis has been to the 4th round of the us open (and he actually won all of the matches as opposed to young's win over guccione and gasquet's withdrawal) and has been ranked as high as #46. he has also had wins over robredo (absolutely crushed him at the us open), tojo, starace, henman, hrbaty, berrer, and massu. he also took nalbandian and davydenko to the max losing to both in a third set breaker at indian wells and miami.
del potro has been ranked as high as #44 and has wins over robredo, lopez, tsonga, canas, moya, verdasco, chela, kohlschreiber, melzer, baghdatis, youzhny, monaco, and mathieu.
being around the same age, young has achieved a career high of #73 and has only won 7 tour matches as opposed to del potro's 40 and gulbis' 19. his only big time win came over lopez earlier this year. it just seems that he is being quickly surpassed by all of the kids who had less hype surrounding them when they were as young as he was and are now producing some very solid results.
edmondsm
Legend
Agreed. While Young is a ways away from being a complete bust, his peers have shown more promise at the top levels of tennis. The only time I've seen a whole match of his was against Nadal @ Indian Wells. From that match you could tell that 90% of The Donald's problems are between the ears. So you just hope that getting out of his teenage years will help him get over that hump.
If he's being quickly surpassed, why is he ranked ahead of them??? Doesn't that also mean that he was ranked ahead of them, but then they overtook him????
Lastly, dont discount the importance of size in the equation. Del Potro and Gulbis are both bigger than DY, and I'm pretty sure they've been that size for a while. DY just grew in the last year.
I'm still not sure what his real stats are.
Anyway, size plays a big role in competing on the ATP tour, unlike the jrs.
johnny ballgame
Professional
A couple of points here:
1. Del Potro and Gulbis are both approximately 1 year older than Donald Young.
2. You say that Young is being "surpassed by all the kids..." Who are you talking about? Gulbis, Del Potro, and Nishikori are the only three that are even in the same ballpark when it comes to age/ranking. And they are all ranked below Donald.
IanRichardson
Semi-Pro
yeah, but around here we dont let facts get in the way of a good story
I think this is great for DY and American tennis. I think he has the ability to at least be as good as james blake (not plaing style wise, but in terms of titles won). I also think that with youngs game he can be a serious slam contender in the next few years.
Bogie
Hall of Fame
del potro was injured for 3-4 months i believe leading into miami...he did play adelaide but had to take a couple of months off after that to heal up
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ReturnWinner
Rookie
yes he was injured since the start of the yearwith a back injury even although he played adealide and australia -retired against Ferrer in second round- . and he has had bad luck in slams last year drawing Gonzalez in second in australia, Nadal in the first round in the french ,Federer in second round in wimbledon and Djokovic in the third round in the USO but he should be higher ranked.
tennisdad65
Hall of Fame
DY should get some tips from Rochus. Rochus obviously knows the secrets to competing against the big boys.
edmondsm
Legend
Any smart player or ex-player that could get in his head and give him the right attitude/approach would be helpful.
Klatu Verata Necktie
Hall of Fame
Let's hope DY can get himself a good coach to stimulate his progress.
???????
He's progressed to the top 100 and he's still 18. I'd say what they're doing is working.
rofl... agree.
Young needs to find a new coach with ATP experience. Yes i agree with him tht his parents have brought him this far but it is time to find the next level also hire a sports psych to help his mental game, b/c that is what is truly holdinghim back right now even though he already Top 75.
Thats what alot of people also said about the Williams sisters. Even though Venus' technique on her serve & forehand are liabilities.
I wouldn't say DY has any stroke deficiencies. Both of his parents played college tennis.
Did people say this about the Bryan Bros also???
What about Ryan Harrison? Is he going to need a "pro" coach in 3-4 years???
johnny ballgame
Professional
Difficult to predict. My guess is that he'll settle in an be a #20-35 type of player for most of his career. Like a Verdasco perhaps.
But I certainly wouldn't rule out top 10 and deep slam runs either.
zagor
Bionic Poster
At his age you can't rule out anything,he is still very young.For all we now he may be a late bloomer like Davydenko for example,I don't think anyone could have predicted that Kolja would be a top 5 player so we never know what the future brings.
You're under the mistaken impression that 18 is young.
It isn't, unless you're developing an all-court, all-surface, legendarily great game like Fed was.
DY is just another in an infinite line of academy baseline junkies. You certainly CAN become great with that style, but if you're going to, you're damn close to winning slams by that age -- not ranked #73.
DY gets paid way too much to be anywhere near #73 at his now fairly advanced age. He should be Wilander, Nadal, or at least Chang by now if he's ever going to amount to anything.
He's not.
He should be considered a great failure, a disappointment, and a profound waste of both USTA and pro sponsor resources at this point. It's pretty late in the day for him to have accomplished so little.
Pretty sad commentary that there are "fans" out there willing to prop him up for such a do-nothing accomplishment, when history is absolutely riddled with players who have seen far less hype and monetary backing, yet have achieved so much more by the same age.
GRANITECHIEF
Hall of Fame
No way DY is a baseline junkie. I watched him play Nadal at IW's and he hung with him nicely in the second set, including some amazing volleys, slices, drop shots and movement. I was impressed and would be very surprised if his game/ranking didn't keep advancing steadily.
atatu
Legend
Again, look at Davydenko, what is his big weapon ? Coria was top 10 with no big weapons other than good speed, which Donald has also. I'm not sure he'll be a top 10 player but I would disagree that everyone in the top 10 needs a big weapon.
norcal
Legend
Don't be so grim, Jack.
I'm pretty sure there was a post comparing DYs progress in the rankings to Fed's, between 18-19, and they were fairly similar.
He ended last year as the youngest player in the top 100, I'm pretty sure he's still the highest ranked player his age.
That must mean the whole world is lagging in its development of tennis players huh???
johnny ballgame
Professional
False. Nadal is the first player in 20 years do have done much of anything by that age. Agassi in the mid-late 80's is the most recent previous example.
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johnny ballgame
Professional
Ouch, just noticed that DY lost to Scoville Jenkins in Tunica, Mississippi earlier this month. That is NOT what he needs headed into RG.
orangettecoleman
Professional
I think DY will put it all together in the next couple of years and become a solid top 20 player, make it to the semis of some majors, and maybe win a French. He's got the movement and strokes, and he does think his points through (well he has to at his size). Just needs to play some more challengers and lower tier events to maybe get a few titles and build up his confidence.
orangettecoleman
Professional
Agree. neither Davy nor ferrer have any huge weapons in terms of strokes, just great footspeed and great returns. both things that DY has- and he can work that lefty serve and has way better touch than either of those two (although i do like both of them). Even Djokovic doesn't have one thing that he's better at than everyone else. He's just fifth best at everything, and is consistent.
anointedone
Banned
Other then Gulbis I dont put much thought into the others, and except for Clement they are all now back ranked over Young at the moment, which just shows how much movement there is down there in the rankings. Safin is done, little blips like his nice Hamburg tournament are just that at this point, small aberrations in the big scheme of the final stages of his career. Del Potro is nothing, just another ridiculously overhyped guy born in the late 80s. Clement is just as washed up as Safin, and was never as good as Safin in the first place.
Still I like Donald Young and hope he can continue his move forward from last year. It would be nice to see him get into the top 50 but we will see.
Still I like Donald Young and hope he can continue his move forward from last year. It would be nice to see him get into the top 50 but we will see.
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anointedone
Banned
Davydenko has extremely powerful groundstrokes and a very powerful return of serve. Ferrer has a huge forehand when he is playing well. Donald Young does not currently have a weapon like that. People shortchange players like that since they arent media stars, and they are kind of players casual fans wish were replaced by more hyped players in the top 5. Davydenko had Federer on his heels in a couple of their matches last year with his penetrating hard groundstrokes and returns. Do you really think DY would be capable of that? Ferrer beat Nadal twice late last year, and was a major problem in the 2nd set of his two matches vs Nadal on clay this year by ripping strings of forehand winners past the speedy Nadal. Again would Young be able to do this (well actually he played Nadal once this year on hard courts, so I think we have the answer to that).
With the depth of todays mens game being fifth best at everything means that you have a huge weapon off everything pretty much. DY would have a long long way to go to be the fifth best at anything, let alone everything, the way you say Djokovic is.
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