Even the sound is different now. When Donald Young used to play,it was the sound of one hand clapping. It was BAM, pat, BAM, pat.Young was the one tippy-tapping, a kid's tennis game, dreams andhopes being crushed by grown men.
But Young has started to hit back. You can hear it. And we mightbe seeing the breakthrough moment in a career that already has beenhyped up, chewed up and spit out, with Young having gone fromChicago's prodigy and American tennis' savior to failure. He turned18 a few weeks ago.
"They expected a lot when I was 15," he said Wednesday. "I wasn'tdoing it as fast as they wanted. They wanted it right away. But itwas kind of funny that my career was over at 17."
He won his first match on the top tour 11 days ago and then camewithin two points of beating Nikolay Davydenko, the No. 4 player inthe world. On Monday, he beat Chris Guccione at the Open for hisfirst victory in a major championship.
Today, we're going to find out a lot more about what's real andwhat's not with Young. He plays Richard Gasquet, the 13th seed.Young doesn't have to beat one of the best players in the world atone of the biggest tournaments in the world to show he's real. Notyet, anyway. But he needs to make a match of it. It's time for that.
And if he does win?
"I'll be good again," Young said.
It's an exciting time when someone starts to arrive, if that'swhat we're seeing. After their match last week, Davydenko said Youngwas the best American, "forehand and backhand."
YES, BETTER THAN RODDICK
And some people thought there was a language issue withDavydenko, who's Russian. The tennis world already had moved on fromYoung. Was he really saying that Young had the best ground strokesof all Americans, including Andy Roddick?
"Roddick [does] not play so good from backhand," Davydenko said.
Better than James Blake?
"Blake plays forehand fast and makes winners from forehand, butthis guy makes good winners from both sides."
Something clearly has changed. Last year at the Open, Youngplayed Novak Djokovic, one of the hot players on the tour. He wonthe first set, lost the second, then gave up, mentally defeated. Hesaid afterward that he hadn't expected to win. Last week, he said hejust hoped that Davydenko wouldn't embarrass him.
This says a lot about Young, how overwhelmed he had been. It isonly now, in the last 11 days, he says, that he feels he belongs.Can he beat Gasquet?
"I go into matches now," he said, "thinking I can possibly win."
Well, that's a baby step, I guess. But the truth is, Youngsuffered a lot of damage during the last few years.
We've followed him since he was a kid on the South Side, when thesenior tour came to Grant Park and John McEnroe hit for a fewminutes with Young, who was a ballboy. McEnroe, the legend goes,discovered Young.
But honestly, McEnroe was part of the problem. He started toutingYoung so early.
Imagine a tennis legend going on and on publicly about your son.The media bought in and, frankly, so did Young's parents, Ilona andDonald Sr.
Young turned pro at 14. We've seen young tennis pros, but usuallythat's on the women's side. At 14, Young had a boy's body trying tofight off grown men in a power era. Impossible.
He signed a contract with mega-agent IMG and got a Nike deal. Thebig tournaments wanted him for his name, and Young's parents jumpedhim right over the minor-league events and into the big time. Heearned financial guarantees for playing in the majors and, hisparents said, gained good experience by facing the best pros.
He was clobbered time and again, losing his first 11 matches. Heconsidered quitting, wondered if he ever would win.
A POSITIVE TURN
"Obviously, that thought goes through your mind when you lose 11in a row," he said. "I had the strokes. I had the game. I thought Icould play with them, but physically I couldn't last. I was 15.They're like 20, grown men."
Meanwhile, the expectations were looming. And instead of being adeveloping kid, he was a failing prodigy. A few months ago, the NewYork Times wrote a lengthy article about him titled "Prodigy's End,"which summed up the feelings of the tennis world.
"Without question, he took a step back," McEnroe said. "Itcertainly hurt him for a while. I was worried, but he's turned thecorner in a positive way."
Young played some minor-league events this year, winning once atthe top -- Challenger -- level. He has learned how to fight, how towin. And two years ago at the Open, his first serve was going 95mph. On Monday, it was in the 120s.
We need to examine how we treat prodigies, salivating over them,turning kids into rock stars. People were giving up on a 17-year-old.
But after 11 days, the buzz about Young is on again. The hypemachine is waiting. You'll see. He's 18 now, so maybe he can handleit. But it's a little disconcerting, seeing what it did to himbefore.
This is Young's biggest moment so far. At least he is big enoughto hit back.
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