He’s at That Age -- 14

There is the natural tendency to be skeptical when you see the name of a 14-year-old tennis player in the same vicinity, let alone in the same sentence, as Pete Sampras. Just double those doubts when the late Arthur Ashe’s name appears in the neighborhood.

But the smooth all-court game of left-handed 14-year-old Donald Young Jr. takes an edge off those reservations. So does his uncanny ability to construct a point and find a Plan B when the search-and-destroy forehand of Plan A isn’t going well.

His name, by all accounts, will be one to remember. And not Don or Donny. Young states unequivocally he prefers the longest version: Donald. He added to the growing lore around his name by winning against players four years older this month at the Easter Bowl in Palm Springs.

On April 10, the second-seeded and wild-card entrant Young became the youngest player to win the boys’ 18 singles championship, defeating No. 1 Daniel Yoo, 3-6, 6-4, 6-2, in the final. It was the only set he dropped in the tournament; his victory earned him a slot into qualifying at the Mercedes-Benz Cup at UCLA in July.

This must be the year of the 14-year-old athlete -- Young following a line that includes soccer’s Freddy Adu and golf’s Michelle Wie.

Wie hasn’t turned pro, but the two boys seem to be on a similar path. In Southern California, hours after Young won the Easter Bowl title, Adu played in the second game of his professional soccer career, facing the Galaxy in Carson. Adu and Young have met. Young said he had seen Adu fooling around on the tennis court with a soccer ball at the IMG Sports Academy in Bradenton, Fla.

“That really didn’t show what he would do on the ground, running around,” Young said. “I’ve heard he’s really good.”

They have something else in common. Young, like Adu, has turned pro, though with much less fanfare. But this sort of growing buzz around a 14-year-old male tennis player in this country is rare, if not unprecedented. The likes of Sampras, Michael Chang and Andre Agassi weren’t turning pro at that age.

Young’s learning curve accelerated in December when he became the first African American to win a singles title in the 57-year history of the Orange Bowl tournament. He won the boys’ 16s against the best international competition in that age group.

Life as the latest great U.S. tennis hope hasn’t caused too much upheaval for Young, though his parents, who are tennis instructors, moved the family from Chicago to Atlanta in January.

“There’s only a couple of things that are different,” Young said in an interview at the Easter Bowl. “People come watch me play and before they didn’t watch me play. Before it would be my mom and the guy I was playing and his people.

“I like the crowds. I like a lot of people watching. As long as they’re not booing. I like it when people congratulate me after matches.”

He already has the self-protective shield against idle patter down pat.

“They think I’m shy -- a lot of people do,” Young said. “I act like that so they leave me alone. They won’t keep talking, ‘Oh, he’s shy.’ That’s why they don’t get upset when I don’t talk to them.”

Former professional Eliot Teltscher was among the coaches and officials from the U.S. Tennis Assn. at the Easter Bowl and took note of Young’s rapid rate of improvement. Teltscher, the director of operations of the USTA’s high-performance program, hit with Young during the U.S. Open.

“He’s gotten quite a bit better in the last six months,” Teltscher said.

“He just keeps getting better. There’s nothing he can’t do.”

Teltscher was on the other side of the net during one of Sampras’ early professional breakthroughs, losing to the teenager at Indian Wells. So, how far can Young go?

“Who knows?” Teltscher said. “I used to hit with Sampras when he was 14, and the way [Young] hits the ball, I don’t think Pete played any better off the ground.”

A couple of years ago, none other than John McEnroe brought Young to the attention of the management firm, International Management Group.

McEnroe, who was in Chicago for a senior tournament, hit with a couple of ball kids, including Young.

“We asked John ourselves to warm up one time and he liked it, so he asked for us again the next day,” Young said.

“Over the loudspeaker.”

It sounded as though he enjoyed hearing his name over the public address system as much as hitting with McEnroe.

It is the fervent goal of his mother and coach, Illona, to keep him a kid as long as possible. His parents have been his only coaches, and his mother won’t allow him to move away from home by himself to a tennis academy.

“We want to raise our own child,” Illona Young said. “He’s a person first. He has a talent, an ability. He’s learned how to play this game. As he matures and grows, we want to continue his upbringing.

“But we also want to make sure he doesn’t get lost or doesn’t get pushed too fast. Or that they wear him out or burn him out. It’s like a stallion. You don’t want to push them so fast they break down early on. I don’t want him to lose the love of the game.”

Young was practically raised on the court. His parents met playing mixed doubles. Illona and Donald Sr. were longtime antagonists, she said.

“He just irritated the heck out of me,” Illona said. “He was so arrogant.”

But they realized they were better together than as opponents.

Donald Jr. started playing at age 2.

“I was always around tennis,” he said. “My mom when she had team matches, she would take me and sit me there in the stroller right next to the court. On changeovers, she’d change my diaper or feed me.”

He also has the single-minded, acquisitive nature of a champion. Young laughed when asked whether he was an only child.

“Happy to be. I’m not selfish, but I couldn’t imagine sharing everything,” he said. “Everything is cut in half.”

That’s right. After all, it’s pretty hard to cut a tennis trophy in half.

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Teen Inspiration

* Name: Donald Young Jr.

* Born: July 23, 1989, in Chicago.

* Plays: Left-handed; two-handed backhand.

* Ranking: No. 1 in U.S. boys’ 16s, No. 9 in boys’ 18s.

* Highlights: At 14, Young became the youngest to win the Easter Bowl boys’ 18s title. The winner of the boys’ 14s Easter Bowl title in 2003, Young is also the first person in the 37-year history of the tournament to win the boys’ 14s and 18s titles in consecutive years. For winning the title, he will receive a wild card into the qualifying for what could be his first ATP event -- the Mercedes-Benz Cup, which will be held at the UCLA tennis center July 12-18. ... In 2003, Young became the first American since Jim Courier to win the Orange Bowl 16s championship.