Former top D2 player takes down Donald Young 1,1

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jcgatennismom

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Kiranpal Pannu, New Zealand graduate of Columbus State and former #1 D2 player, beat Donald Young 1,1 today in Atlanta exhibition. Donald defeated Nathan Pasha (UGA) and Will Blumberg in earlier matches (Will may have been less than 100% as he pulled out of today's matches) but DY lost badly to Trent Bryde of UGA(2,1) and Kevin King of GT(2,1). KP was a replacement player for another pullout so this was his 1st match of exhibition tourney. Tomorrow is last day of men's event.

This board mostly touts the results of D1 players so it's good to see D2 players do well too. Pannu got 6 games off Pospisil at Auckland Qualifying in January but has been based in Atlanta/Macon area this summer. Last summer Pannu lost a 3 setter to Emil Reinberg (UGA's #1 in 19) in a BBT Qualifying WC tournament.
 
DY's career apparently on its last legs. I don't see him successfully working the challenger circuit to get back to top 100ish and direct entry in Slams like he's done before. For any player at this stage of their career, I wonder what will be the final straw that makes him quit. He's not really that old, but he's been around since he was very young, and despite the current Big 3 generation of mid/late 30s success, that doesn't mean everyone is destined to be having success and playing their best in their 30s. Not long ago it was fairly normal to be washed up at 30 - and still is for plenty of players - just not this generation of marquee players.
 
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jcgatennismom said:
Kiranpal Pannu, New Zealand graduate of Columbus State and former #1 D2 player, beat Donald Young 1,1 today in Atlanta exhibition. Donald defeated Nathan Pasha (UGA) and Will Blumberg in earlier matches (Will may have been less than 100% as he pulled out of today's matches) but DY lost badly to Trent Bryde of UGA(2,1) and Kevin King of GT(2,1). KP was a replacement player for another pullout so this was his 1st match of exhibition tourney. Tomorrow is last day of men's event.

This board mostly touts the results of D1 players so it's good to see D2 players do well too. Pannu got 6 games off Pospisil at Auckland Qualifying in January but has been based in Atlanta/Macon area this summer. Last summer Pannu lost a 3 setter to Emil Reinberg (UGA's #1 in 19) in a BBT Qualifying WC tournament.
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Where in Macon?
 
Pannu ATP 1259 beat Chris Eubanks ATP 238 6-4 3-6 14-12 in 1st match of am. I didnt livestream any of it b/c by the time I found today's schedule, match had just finished.
 
MRfStop said:
Where in Macon?
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Dont know where in Macon-just heard Pannu was splitting his time between Macon and Atlanta area this summer. Before the pandemic hit, he had played Future in Cancun in Feb. Since he graduated from a university in GA (Columbus State), he obviously has friends in GA. I think most of his training is in ATL area. He was in ATL last summer.
 
The Donald had a chip on his shoulder from the get go. Which is fine, if you can back it up with results. When you can’t? You get shillacked by a D2 college player, I guess.
 
bluetrain4 said:
DY's career apparently on its last legs. I don't see him successfully working the challenger circuit to get back to top 100ish and direct entry in Slams like he's done before. For any player at this stage of their career, I wonder what will be the final straw that makes him quit. He's not really that old, but he's been around since he was very young, and despite the current Big 3 generation of mid/late 30s success, that doesn't mean everyone is destined to be having success and playing their best in their 30s. Not long ago it was fairly normal to be washed up at 30 - and still is for plenty of players - just not this generation of marquee players.
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DY is a mess. I remember him playing in the Charlottesville challenger last year... got up a break twice in the second set, squandered both. As soon as it went to a TB I knew it was over, dropped it 7-2 in a tremendous tank. I think we'll all wonder what could've happened if he had a coach other than his parents.
 
kingcheetah said:
DY is a mess. I remember him playing in the Charlottesville challenger last year... got up a break twice in the second set, squandered both. As soon as it went to a TB I knew it was over, dropped it 7-2 in a tremendous tank. I think we'll all wonder what could've happened if he had a coach other than his parents.
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I was sitting near his Mom at Delray qualifying event in 2019. While stinking up the place he yells up at mommy, "See, this is why I don't want to do this anymore!" Now ranked in the 300s he couldn't even get into qualies this year. Not too late to hire a REAL coach. DYoung is VERY talented, but still a baby.
 
lefty10spro said:
I was sitting near his Mom at Delray qualifying event in 2019. While stinking up the place he yells up at mommy, "See, this is why I don't want to do this anymore!" Now ranked in the 300s he couldn't even get into qualies this year. Not too late to hire a REAL coach. DYoung is VERY talented, but still a baby.
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He's had the same problem for years before 2019. And for years I gave him a chance to turn it around. With decent mid-top 100 success at times, his blow ups, on again off again bad attitude and never breaking to a new coach held him back. I still pull for him until he explodes, lost a lot of respect for him with the Ryan Harrison incident at the NY Open a few years back. He's talented, but like a lot of talents seems to have demons.
 
andfor said:
He's had the same problem for years before 2019. And for years I gave him a chance to turn it around. With decent mid-top 100 success at times, his blow ups, on again off again bad attitude and never breaking to a new coach held him back. I still pull for him until he explodes, lost a lot of respect for him with the Ryan Harrison incident at the NY Open a few years back. He's talented, but like a lot of talents seems to have demons.
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I agree with this assessment. The fact that he managed to push all the way up into the top 40 (after working coaches other than his parents) shows his potential. His issues are psychological and no coach other than his parents are going to want to deal with how his baggage spills over in the form of outbursts & bad behavior.
 
I think it might be time to stop pushing this idea that DY was going to be a great player if only he had better coaches. The way I see it, he is very fast and he has nice hands but he just doesn't have any big weapons. Maybe if he had played in the 80's he could have had a career like Mac. He's had a good career for an undersized player with some nice wins and he made the finals of two ATP tour level tournaments. Would he have been top 10 or won a slam if he had been working with high profile coaches ? Probably not.
 
atatu said:
I think it might be time to stop pushing this idea that DY was going to be a great player if only he had better coaches. The way I see it, he is very fast and he has nice hands but he just doesn't have any big weapons. Maybe if he had played in the 80's he could have had a career like Mac. He's had a good career for an undersized player with some nice wins and he made the finals of two ATP tour level tournaments. Would he have been top 10 or won a slam if he had been working with high profile coaches ? Probably not.
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I could see him doing better than his career. His big issue was ball depth, who told him to rally his shots on the service line??? coulda been much better if he hit a deeper ball, he had enough strength in his shots.
 
atatu said:
I think it might be time to stop pushing this idea that DY was going to be a great player if only he had better coaches. The way I see it, he is very fast and he has nice hands but he just doesn't have any big weapons. Maybe if he had played in the 80's he could have had a career like Mac. He's had a good career for an undersized player with some nice wins and he made the finals of two ATP tour level tournaments. Would he have been top 10 or won a slam if he had been working with high profile coaches ? Probably not.
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I'm not sure anyone is/was saying that Young was going to be great, but the fact that he was able to push into the top 50 relative to working with someone other than his family shows the potential of influences outside of an echo chamber. Willingness to listen to a coach and change your technique can make all the difference. Young's issues are as much psychological as they are physical. Psychological changes can often yield physical changes. Right now..and for the last few years..he's been living the definition of insanity and he seems to be okay with that.
 
lefty10spro said:
I was sitting near his Mom at Delray qualifying event in 2019. While stinking up the place he yells up at mommy, "See, this is why I don't want to do this anymore!" Now ranked in the 300s he couldn't even get into qualies this year. Not too late to hire a REAL coach. DYoung is VERY talented, but still a baby.
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My favorite DY mess, about 13 months after his first big run at the USO was when he came to a challenger with a bunch of different racquets. He was on fire in the first set, broke a string, sent it to Mama Young via a ball kid, and in the mean time absolutely fell apart. Lost in the first round.
 
jcgatennismom said:
Kiranpal Pannu, New Zealand graduate of Columbus State and former #1 D2 player, beat Donald Young 1,1 today in Atlanta exhibition. Donald defeated Nathan Pasha (UGA) and Will Blumberg in earlier matches (Will may have been less than 100% as he pulled out of today's matches) but DY lost badly to Trent Bryde of UGA(2,1) and Kevin King of GT(2,1). KP was a replacement player for another pullout so this was his 1st match of exhibition tourney. Tomorrow is last day of men's event.

This board mostly touts the results of D1 players so it's good to see D2 players do well too. Pannu got 6 games off Pospisil at Auckland Qualifying in January but has been based in Atlanta/Macon area this summer. Last summer Pannu lost a 3 setter to Emil Reinberg (UGA's #1 in 19) in a BBT Qualifying WC tournament.
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My first two years of playing D2, my university had to play against Columbus State. The whole team are very good but KP is on another level. Played dubs against him once and honestly the guy hits the ball so well. Great to see D2 produce a player of his level. He's played some really good matches in the Atlanta exhibitions.
 
Pan
MisterP said:
The Donald had a chip on his shoulder from the get go. Which is fine, if you can back it up with results. When you can’t? You get shillacked by a D2 college player, I guess.
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The qualifier of D2 does not do credit to the ability of KP who from personal experience against him and watching him compete could have played at a good D1 program
 
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