U.S. Tennis Looks at Ways to Improve the Future

Donald Young is only 16. He has the diamond stud earring and the unnatural life of a professional athlete where academics are done online and he’s more likely to be found in an airplane seat than behind a desk.

So feeling sorry for Donald Young may seem silly. Yet here on a gloomy Wednesday at Wimbledon, after he had flung his racket in anger at the end of his third-round loss to Robin Roshardt of Switzerland, 6-4, 7-6 (7), in boys’ singles, Young was sounding like a vulnerable teenager and not America’s next great tennis star.

“No, not really,” Young said when he was asked whether he has any friends. “Everybody else does. Not me. Guys don’t want to hit with me, they’re not interested in going to dinner with me.”

On a day when the U.S. Tennis Assn. said it would turn to Chris Evert, one of its greatest stars, and the Evert Tennis Academy to lift the sagging fortunes of the American game, the kid who has been touted as a future star for two years seemed nothing more than confused and discouraged.

Young said Andy Roddick and Taylor Dent have taken time to talk, but most other top pros have not.

The 5-foot-11 Young has been playing the international junior circuit since 2004. An African American from Chicago who has been carefully guided by his parents, Donald Sr. and Illonah, he is managed by IMG, clothed by Nike and contracted to use Head rackets.

Mostly competing against players two, three and four years older, Young owns one junior Australian Open title (2005) and one junior Wimbledon semifinal (2005). He lost in the quarterfinals of the U.S. Open juniors last year, was a third-round loser in the junior French Open this year and now is a third-round loser at Wimbledon.

“I wish I hadn’t come back to juniors this year,” Young said. “Everybody is pointing at me.”

But Young wasn’t sure where he wished he had gone. He knows he’s not ready to be competing against the top pros.

“Not yet,” he said. The scrabbling life of trying to earn ranking points on the cutthroat circuit of challenger events filled with older men trying to earn a living isn’t attractive. “I don’t want to do that.” Young said there was a group of other junior players he was friends with before he committed to playing the full international junior circuit. “But I’ve kind of passed them by,” he said. “And now they’re not around.”

Billie Jean King, chairman of the USTA high performance committee, said that she disagrees with how Young has been conducting his career so far, playing over his age level.

“I think it’s hurt him,” King said. “I think he needs to win a few matches. You need to understand what it feels like to win, you have to win enough to get that confidence.

“If you’re too young and you totally are in way over your head, in a way, there’s no pressure. They say, oh, you know, it’s great for experience. But to keep getting killed all the time, or beaten badly, is not good.”

The USTA, stung by the early demise here of the Americans in the men’s and women’s singles, had an hourlong round-table discussion Wednesday that translated into 54 pages of quotes on what’s to be done to nurture and strengthen young American players.

The USTA said the alliance with the Evert Tennis Academy in Boca Raton, Fla., is a beginning. The plan is to offer year-round training and housing facilities for top juniors, ages 14 to 18, at the complex owned and run by Evert -- winner of 18 Grand Slam singles titles and three doubles titles -- and her brother John. The USTA also will construct a new building at the academy to serve as the national headquarters for USTA Player Development.

But it’s too late for Young. His housing is more often a hotel room than his home. He sat in a small room at Wimbledon with his mother and his agent silently at his side saying that he plans to play the national U.S. 18-under championships in Kalamazoo, Mich., this summer -- winning would give him an automatic berth in the U.S. Open main draw. After that, he’s not sure.

He spoke wistfully of wishing he could get more tips from top players such as the one John McEnroe gave him. “He told me to just walk around like I’m one of the best players,” Young said. “I like that people have confidence in me. But just because I’m an American player, it doesn’t mean I’m guaranteed.”

*

MEN’S SEMIFINALS

AT WIMBLEDON ON FRIDAY

* No. 1 Roger Federer, Switzerland, vs. Jonas Bjorkman, Sweden.

* No. 18 Marcos Baghdatis, Cyprus, vs. winner of the match between No. 2 Rafael Nadal, Spain, and No. 22 Jarkko Nieminen, Finland.

Note: The quarterfinal between Nadal and Nieminen was postponed until today.