Donald Young | Rise and Fall of the American Tennis Prodigy 

Damn right it would like a word...an to slap him upside the head lol

@@Mixcoatl Lol imagine actually trying to come back with the "you can't tell me I'm wrong because I'm a dumbass" defense lmao

@@Mixcoatl I would rank the French Open AND Wimbledon as above in prestige to the US Open, and I've watched tennis my whole life.

@@Mixcoatl if you want to be technical, tennis was really invented in France so maybe the Rolland Garros is more important from a historical standpoint but Wimbledon is def the most prestigious and most important tournament/most fun to watch tournament.

Wimbledon and Roland Garros more prestigious than the US Open.

I mean he was hyped too be one of the greatest players ever but he never won a title

As a tennis guy who was a young junior when young was at his fame peak he really is a meme

@@possesedcake5422 But that was not his fault...The media and trainers tend to inflate average players hen they are young.

@@balmorrablue3130 Like Severus Snaoe would say. Fame isn't everything.

@@mikejunior211 well it is his fault for not rising to the occasion, well yes it is the media’s fault the fault is also on him we’re he couldn’t deliver

He simply never grew. We thought he was going to look like Djokovic. Instead he’s like 5’10” with the narrowest set of shoulders on tour. He simply does not have the body to generate a massive power required to win on the men’s tour consistently. And if anyone thinks he was going to be a freak at his height like David Ferrar you must be out of your mind that guy is one in 1 million and even he couldn’t win a grand slam against he’s taller guys. Donald young gets over powered by top 50 pros. These guys are simply much bigger than he is. Guys like Belluci and Meltzer Kill the ball

@@Ryan2022 what about Diego Schwartzman? I don’t think power generation was an issue.

@@mrwetframe he's busy showering everyone with their 1st top 10 win by being an embarrassment. He's simply still 10 bc of freeze

@@Ryan2022 he's listed as 6 foot. Not sure why everyone seems to think Donald is short

@@funkslave9425 I think there’s two things. One when we were excited about his potential we thought he was gonna be 6 foot two or 6 foot three and two A list him at 6 feet but if you ask me I don’t think he’s barely 5 foot 11

I agree. Money. Just like Capriati's parents. Dollar signs. At Least she was able to win despite their interfering

capricornmagic63 I don’t think it was money.

Exactly

My thoughts exactly!

Should have gone to college.

i don’t know why the video is calling this a failure, still a great career for the man at the end of the day all while sticking with his parents the whole way through

A third of that money went out in taxes and it can cost $100-200,000 a year to play to tour in travel, lodging, food and etc. $4.7 million over 15 years is $300,000 plus so there is not much left. With his performances I doubt he is still getting much money from endorsement contracts.

@@williamford9564 Donald was sponsored by the USTA ( all his tournament expenses were paid by the USTA) And don't forget about Donald's Nike contract

@@williamford9564 I'll take That Loot in a heartbeat!

@@parischarles dude it is a failure because it's not only the absolute results that matter on this, which we could Say are ok for any average pro tennis player, but he was supposed to be far more better, and the important thing here is that he actually got a lot of help, resources, wildcards and everything and still had below average results for the top 100, it's really funny to see people saying he didnt get enough help because he was black, let me put an example, here in Argentina we don't have 15 atp tournaments a year (which translates into wildcards and opportunities without travelling far) and the help from our tennis federation almost doesnt exist, Diego Schwartzman didnt get an atp wildcard until he was 18, and also didnt even play junior Grand slams because he didnt have money to travel, also didnt have huge sponsors, yet hes a consistent top 10 player right now, so what i'm trying to say is, when you get such a huge Boost like young had, and you can't even get to the top 20, it really means a failure, but it's ok tho, it's just a sport

@Joe Publico You're right.I've watched him play a few times in Indian Wells.

@Joe Publico Staying in the family can sometimes exacerbate that tendency, no?

he’s closer to 5-9... watch him vs Kei... they’re about the same height... he needs to play like Chang ...

Chay Sayaovong or David Ferrer or Schartzman. Take everything early. Oh well. Not too many people can say they made it to the top 50 of the world. Credit his effort to get there.

Agreed. Parents should have swallowed some pride and stepped down long, long ago. Young is his own worst enemy when things go bad for even a few minutes. His parents, as coaches, means he never learned to learn new things at some point. It rarely works out when your parents are too close to everything because a independent coach means that you aren't coddled or babied. We all know that during a match only one person can help you....you. So, the mental game is as important as the physical. Halep started winning once she got her mind right.

Agreed, mostly anyone commenting here would LOVE to have the tennis skills and career (playing for money instead of some job) that he did. The criticisms show an incomplete understanding of how tennis players' careers compare with careers in other sports. IT's pretty myopic.

Nah, lots of people grind away on the tour for years without the hype this guy had.

Is your dad one of the Battistone brothers? Have you used the 2 handled racket?

@@CULTTENNIS Haha it's awesome that you know that. Yes, my dad is Dann, and my uncle is Brian. I have been playing with the two-handled racket since I could walk and am training to hopefully someday play professionally.

@@sambattistone5342 good luck!:)

Wait what... somebody explain...two handled racket ? Wtf is that all about...

I your dad didn’t have they result Donald did and your dad played double with your uncle I think? With a weird like racket? Donald didn’t need to go to college he needed the USTA to promote him like they did the white top players. Plus his mother was a problem also. Donald was spoiled and his mother and father let him act that way. I will never forgot the rudeness and total disrespect I said him treat Queen Nielly , Tim Nielly mother. And his father was with him and did not get in that ass. His parents were horrible tennis parents. He need to leave them and get another coach and be a man.

Funny that you bring this up. I remember that as well. I just don't think he had the total commitment to the game as his competitors.

Cory: Yep, Young would just seemingly mindlessly show-up to matches with his brilliant athleticism & let the cards fall as they may. Evidently he never developed his game strategically enough in order to adapt to players who did or who could simply outhit him.

That's like kyrgios and kokkinakis went to training with fed. Big eye opener

Sampras Lendl yeah. I always noted that Pete´s outstanding Eastern FH bore a great resemblance to Lendl´s in an era of topspin Bolleterri FHs ( Agassi, Courier etc ) Thanks for confirming this mate

Just a confirmation of a dumb kid. Or completely controlled by his coaching parents, who failed to develop a mature game for Donald as he couldn't figure it out himself. Nadal was a prodigy too, but also started with Challengers to get used to the pace.

Did you see the mom? (Standing next to Bolleteri in the one shot). Obese. She couldn’t play a lick. Dad was a former athlete but don’t think tennis. It was stupid. They obviously wanted to keep the cash and not pay an outsider. Pennywise, pound foolish as the old saying goes.

I doubt that the prodigy just so happened to have his parents be top-level coaches, just by pure chance.

Yeah if Rafa can leave Toni that should mean any player should eventually find an external coach with better expertise

Exactly this. He should have left them.

Bruh if you listen to a news cast offer your own opinion?

two different situations entirely. Coco and her team actually participate in mentorship activities with more experienced players.

@@uxwd87 that is true, but at the end of the day it makes things tough for her. A lot of players who win their first GS do it as an underdog, now everyone will be playing their best against her because 'media hype'. She's already a target

@@deusexmachina9776 I agree with you. She rode a wave of media hype last year with a purple patch of form, but that is over now. She's a first round loser these days. She is still young and developing as a player but she will need a much bigger game than what she's got at the moment. Her serve is the biggest issue.

The difference is coco is doing relatively well on the professional circuit

@@weekendhacker I believe her first round losses are due to a lack of a crowd. She is the favorite when she plays and that reaction distracts her opponent. She isn't strong without them, and her opponents are focused

. . . a coach that didn't treat him like a princess! or God's Gift to Tennis!

Agreed

Welll - he wasn’t “Tiger”. He was more of a “Kitten”.

Attitude and coaching

my first thought

yup!

Insanity

He never had an actual coach at all (his parents weren't coaches).

@@2011blueman Roger Smith was a part-time coach for a few years.

Marcos Doyter definitely agreed, Federer also took up Edberg to improve his backhand

I think it was the second point. Parent coaches can be good or bad. But Donald may have over-emphasised technical parts of his game because they worked at the junior level. But held him back at the pro level. Or you’re right and he just wasn’t any good to begin with.

@@bradenchou7338 any good? Are in the top 50 or sumin

Roger all that!

He is a bust. He had so much more potential.

@@JCole-fg3rr thousands of tennis prospects have a "brilliant future" and don't even make it into top 100.

Ultermost and they’re all flops

I agree. There have been lots of junior grand slam champions that haven’t done as well as Young. Even huge success in juniors isn’t always a good indication for pro success. I remember the Venezuelan Nicolás Pereira who won 3 junior slams and only got to 74 ranking despite all the talent. And plus I don’t know why one needs to pick on his parents as coach, there’s lots of players with parents as coaches and that’s a low blow to compare to Dokic and Tomic.

Agreed! His career has been a rollercoaster, always fun to research the background. Thank you!

he’s 5-9... and didn’t grow...

@@CSV1973 There are 4-5 players in the current top 20 who are shorter than that.

MMM18092 Your right. I used to go to the camp his parents ran for a few years, and you could tell he just wasn’t as hungry anymore

@@MMM18092 only diego is not taller than that in the current top 20 but yh

Sport helicopter parents and early money can really do you in, yes. You have to have either crazy passion for the game or crazy work ethic.

You meant French Open I presume?

Slams in order of best to worst: 1. Wimbledon 2. Australian Open 3. US Open 4. French Open

@@weekendhacker by you? Ok.

Annette Roper speaking as an American I completely agree with this!

@@weekendhacker wimbledon, US, French then australian

I've watched him at a Dallas TX challenger event. It was so windy. Not many people there.

The USTA has money to burn. They put far more money into women's tennis than men's tennis.

Actually as of January 13 2020 he's ranked 255. That's crap man.

Men's Americans suck in tennis lol. Go Nadal, go Federer, go Djokavich, go Medvedev

@@italianguy4195 Djokovic* idk what you're going for here...honestly wtf are you talking about? What's your ATP rank man?

Submit he was/is more gifted than U....& me!👊 (...& worked alot harder than me).

I'm so glad American tennis has fallen on the Mens side. Djokovic must be laughing.

Well said. I hang out at the ATP practice courts; many times if you tune out the fans yelling they’re even. And watched many Top 10 guys get smoked in practice sets. Like you said, it’s more mental and who can do it when it matters on the big courts.

Biscuit man, Biscuit!! And haha thank you, appreciate the kind words!

As an attending spectator will take a Challenger tourney over say the US Open anytime! The former provides brilliant athleticism & entertainment in an intimate, cheerful setting; the latter a congested, inhospitable, & unforgivingly expensive experience organized and run by arrogant people.

Is one of them, but agree, is also overhyped.👊. Have been twice & have no desire to go again.

Just a very silly oversight from an otherwise very interesting and knowledgeable RU-vidr. To declare that any other tennis event holds the same prestige or even more so than that of Wimbledon can only be the result of jingoism.

Yeah, pretty dumb. I’m a native New Yorker at that, and even I can admit that Wimbledon and even probably Roland Garros are more prestigious tournaments. And apparently the players enjoy the Australian Open experience way more than the US Open, though I do think the US Open has a hair more caché among the worldwide tennis audience.

@@TomSmith-gw6fn US Open on TV though does have the best camera angle. You can actually see the how fast the ball is. Even Cincinnati uses the same angle.

Tom Smith French open is not more prestigious

Very few tennis players in any generation "make it big." The nature of the idea is what is ridiculous, and kind of offensive to those that understand tennis.

Thanks for that! Keep an eye out for more!

No, he definitely has heart.

@Oliver McCall Well said.

Great forehand, weak serve and mediocre backhand.

he’s about 5-9...

coffeeinthemorning young is over 6 feet while ferrer stands at just 5’9” what are you talking about

Wow thank you, I'm a fan myself :)

CULT TENNIS cheers mate, maybe we can do something together in the future :)

haha

no he’s short... under 6 ft.. watch him next to Kei who’s 5-9... they are the same height... at best he can only be as good as. Kei.. no one who’s short can play tennis unless they do away with graphite

@@CSV1973 diego scharzman is 5''7

@@CSV1973 Also, Rios reached number 1 at 5'8, and Muster at 5'9

Hewitt. Pretty sure nalbandian was 6ft tops

Where else was he going to go?

He was n1 junior at 15

@@curiousgeorge6921 Yeah I read he was the top dog in the junior tennis but when I look at his overall game, nothing really stands out, no big forehand like Federer, or Backhand like Djokovic, fighting spirits like Nadal, or fast like De Minaur, volley like Sampras ... everything is just average, that's my view anyway.

@@essenceau great touch... forehand is really fantastic actually

@@curiousgeorge6921 I have only seen a few highlights of his matches. Like Nadal, his forehand is effective when the ball is SLOW & SITTING UP for a big hit (has times to wind up) BUT the forehand is vulnerable to fast/flat shot. And often he either makes a mistake or hit way short. Watch some random highlights and see if you spot it. If anything, his backhand is actually more solid than the forehand, less error there.

@@essenceau yeah tennis is a mental game really...but young is an asshole as a person, ignorant rap culture guy... that's his real problem...

Ikr. I wonder if he got a bit emotional while watching, and weather he is reading this comment.

More videos coming! Appreciate the support!

Thanks for watching!!

Richard raised a pig

J K stfu

Richard Williams hurt her daughters greatness by sticking around too long, as bad as Richard was, Oracene was a complete joke as a coach.

Serena is a horrible persona and so is her mother. Go look up Richard Williams. He has countless children. Many of them illegitimate. Don’t take my word for it.

Ig umm no he didn’t. He turned them into major champions who are all time greats. He stuck around for as long as he needed to.

Thanks for watching!!

And key Biscayne? Idk much, I've heard that name associated with the tournament often.

haha you're very right, I was there last spring, I should know better!

By Fedtards, sure

I agree. Unless they were a tennis pro and/or have significant previous coaching experience, they're unlikely to get the best out of their child.

Dan Smulders I assume this is a reference to the super bowl game against the pats. Yes we blew it big time, and I hope we lose every game this year until Gwinn is fired. Blowing 2 double digit leads back to back weeks is unacceptable...

same

If you don't have to play tennis, don't. Glad I did in my formative years, especially in high school hell, had next to nothing else to let off excess steam (would've worked extra in retail hell job if didn't have tennis). But exploring, having hobbies that aren't tied to something with extreme coordination/ loads of practice and fitness... Just saying, exploring and trying new things is better than slugging out a tennis ball in a box, much as it can help build confidence/ ego sometimes if get good enough. But overall I still hate it, too easy to get strains and injuries too at least in singles. But good workout in moderation I suppose

@@Dman9fp If you think it's too easy to get injured at the amateur level, you're either using really poor technique or you're not fit.

@@broncoguy4862 Yep you've probably got that right, as with people who apparently intent on getting hurt during injury suceptible moves like low squats, deadlifts, good mornings, heavy upright rows, etc. Just saying in general I don't miss the days where I didn't have a bunch of time to drive around and explore new hobbies/ adventures versus a hobby that can break down your body and for what? To each their own, some people are lucky enough to have partners who don't take it too seriously, and at least in my area at my level anybody who still plays usually takes it too seriously

@@Dman9fp unfortunately lifting weights and doing exercises isn’t going to help to much you need the form and the correct timing which is one of the reasons why I love the sport so if you the correct form then you won’t get injured you where probably getting injured from serving wrong and leaning back after a shot to much

It sounds like he just needed.... an actual coach

@@shadoninja lol

@@shadoninja Everybody can't get Richard Williams results. The parents should've recognized their limitations and got him a proper team.

Connors said he got rid of his mother as his coach who taught him women's tennis. and got with Pancho Segura who taught him men's tennis.

Not necessarily. Look at Abe Lincoln. Ultimately it's up to the player. IMO.

hmm good idea!

The curse of a pretty face. Tale as old as time.

@@CULTTENNIS omg please do!

I'd hold off on that one for a few years. Her results this year after the restart lead me to think she's overcome her injury/PTSD. The fight's still in her.

@@CULTTENNIS please do Hyeon Chung!!!

Monfils reached #6 and achieved $21M in winnings. Apart from not winning a major, and a lot of *really* good players never won majors -- particularly in this era, what would they talk about? Plus has been one of the most-liked and popular players on tour. He's not a cautionary tale or a "what could have been?" tale at all, really.

@@jeffvanderwerf3391 Monfils has 22 losses in finals for 11 wins. He never won a MS 1000. I love the guy, but Something could have been different.

He married Elina Svitolina, so he's a winner on my book.

Thanks for watching and being here :)

good point!

Exactly! Just because you were the best in the junior level doesn't mean the same thing will happen in the senior level. To be continued...

Plus, didn't the girls forego junior tennis?

Young had the “results” as a junior. The difference b/t he and the Williams sisters (or any other top player in the women’s game) is their ability to consistently hit overpowering deep in the court groundstrokes and serves against their opponents.

Men's game is a completely different animal than the women's game.

His parents wanted to sponge off of his predicted wealth. Same old song and dance.

That's your opinion

@@pglanville that's a fact mate

@david roidtiz he's totally right

@@pglanville It's litteraly the tennis' birthplace...

Radda radda radda

Or in terms of Federer's early career 2003-2008 you could call it a weak era. Roddick had terrible technqiue IMO. He was punchy.