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Feb/15

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Talkin Tennis with DY in Delray

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I asked Donald Young some questions after his Delray Beach Open win vs. Alejandro Gonzalez in the mixed zone:

Question: Donald, some of our readers love your game but they think you are too careful with your return game, playing it safe always. Your comment?

DY: “Last week I played doubles and I was hitting quite well. But today (yesterday) it’s tough to hit out (very windy) and I just didn’t want to make stupid mistakes. But it’s definitely something I’m working on and being a little more aggressive and maybe hitting a couple and coming in. But yeah, it’s a work in progress. I have to do it in practice first to get comfortable. And then do it in the match and it will be even more comfortable.”

Question: Your memories of hitting with John McEnroe as a teenager?

DY: “It was great. I like John. He has great hands. It was fun to see the guy hit the volley that well, how easy it is for him. And just to see him play and hit on the same court as a Grand Slam champion multiple times, he’s such a legend. It was awesome.”

Q: Was he helpful to you?

DY: “Yeah, yeah. John is really good about the attitude part. It took me a while to take to it. And now as I’m older it starts to make a lot more sense.”

Q: John’s attitude was fiery, he used to have a temper.

DY: “I tried that for a little bit, it didn’t work [smiles].”

Q: You guys hit in Chicago that first time right?

DY: “Yeah, I was nine years old at that point. So I don’t remember much back then. As I was older we hit a couple more times.”

Q: Who has the best forehand you faced, the heaviest?

DY: “There’s a ton. I practiced with (Fernando) Gonzalez. I’ve played Nadal. I played Fed. Fed’s was pretty good. I couldn’t read it at all. Fed holds it quite long. And you’re kind of guessing where it goes. I played Jack Sock, he has a good one. A lot of good ones. Most everybody has a good one.”

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27 comments

  • Andrew Miller · February 20, 2015 at 2:30 pm

    Dy is getting a lot of good advice and putting it in motion. Becoming his own player. Nice win against dolgo and good strategy to use dubs and practice to groove new shots.

  • Dan Markowitz · February 20, 2015 at 7:35 pm

    Geez, talk about a player who’s lost his sizzle. Dolgo just is not the same player. He was a guy who looked a few years ago that he was destined for Top 10, maybe even be a Ukranian Nishikori, but the guy seems now just to be a mercurial player.

  • Andrew Miller · February 21, 2015 at 5:59 pm

    Dy in final, beats tomic in 3. Dy has best shot among u.s. players to get title #1 in 2015.

  • Dan markowitz · February 21, 2015 at 6:58 pm

    Wow that’s impressive. When I was watching the first set, DY was playing sloppy ball, double faulting and hitting rally shots out. Arias said if he was DY, he’d be vey frustrated as he was hitting balls out that he wasn’t really looking to be aggressive on. But Tomic was playjing well and now DY has beaten him back to back weeks. This must be DY’s first ATP final.

  • Scoop Malinowski · February 21, 2015 at 7:37 pm

    DY made final in Thailand I believe. DY at his career best right now, playing his best tennis.

  • Andrew Miller · February 21, 2015 at 8:32 pm

    He has a shot tomorrow. Best thing is dy is not going walkabout like harold said some players do, even if he loses a set. There was a nice paragraph on dy from nytimes magazine, maybe seven years ago . Dy at his best is one of the smartest tactical players (at his best). When he is concentrating he makes his own luck out there.

  • Dan Markowitz · February 21, 2015 at 10:49 pm

    Let’s not get too overblown here. He beat Tomic who hasn’t exactly been rousing the joint of late. Tomic might be a little better than Harry, but not all that much. DY might have 10 wins already this season, but the best players he’s beaten are Dolgo (who’s playing a bit like a dog of late), Mannarino and Tomic. DY got beat by Raonic in straights at Australia.

    If he beats Dr. Ivo tomorrow, I’ll be impressed, but DY is not playing Top 20 tennis, not what I saw today in the first set at least. He’s crafty, he’s got some firepower, but I don’t see Top 20 anytime soon.

  • Coach Skelly · February 22, 2015 at 10:11 am

    Donald Young will be a top ten player before his tennis career is over!He has put all the haters and doubters in the rear view mirror.He s only gonna get better from this point on!Hats off to him and his biggest believer and supporter ,His mom!!!

  • Scoop Malinowski · February 22, 2015 at 11:22 am

    Coach Skelly, that is possible. Very possible. I remember Hewitt had high regards from DY, he said after their match in DC years ago he liked DY’s game a lot, he just needed to improve his BH and volleys. It was a close first set. Night match on stadium. With experience and some fine tuning to his game and consistently win matches like this week, it’s very possible DY can make that step to the next level and up to the top ten. Hey, Mardy Fish did it late in his career, there’s no reason why DY can’t.

  • Dan Markowitz · February 22, 2015 at 12:00 pm

    In all due respect Coach Skells, to you and Scoop, you’re both nuts and out of your minds. The day DY breaks the Top 20, I’ll buy both of you lobster at the best restaurant in Newport, RI. By the way, Skells, if you come to Newport, I’ll come to D.C. later in summer.

    Anyhow, there’s no way possible DY can be Top 10. No way! That’s like saying Spadea could’ve been Top 10. (I know Harold will love that I’ve brought up Spadea again.) His serve is mediocre at best. His backhand is below mediocre. His footwork is good, but not anywhere in the Nadal-Djoko-Nishikori level and DY is like 5-11. Plus, he’s got his mother coaching him.

    Come on! This is a reputable web site and you’re giving out this kind of hogwash analysis! You can’t be serious!

  • Scoop Malinowski · February 22, 2015 at 2:07 pm

    Dan you also similarly sneered when I said Dolgo would be top fifteen. You also sneered when I said Kei would be top 5. You also sneered at James Blake for years. The best of DY may be yet to come. I believe it is.

  • Scoop Malinowski · February 22, 2015 at 2:07 pm

    Paes Klassen vs. Bryans final right now, great match.

  • Gaurang · February 22, 2015 at 3:37 pm

    I saw some of his match against Tomic. I think DY plays very well for stretches of the match, and plays really bad for others. He really needs to maintain his best throughout the match. If he is able to do so, he can hit top 20. But his record so far speaks for itself — he has failed to bring the best out of him for full matches, and especially back-to-back matches.

    If he beats Ivo today — then I think he would make a case for top 20 immediately. But he is 99% going to loose. Ivo would be just be acing him left and right, and he wouldnt be able to get any rally going when returning serves. Maybe he has a bit of a chance in tie-breaks. Lets see!

  • Gaurang · February 22, 2015 at 3:39 pm

    I did see him returning well against Tomic though. He was hitting returns with a kick, and also often deep. But he failed to get very good serves back to play, and thats what he will need to do against Ivo.

  • Bryan · February 22, 2015 at 4:56 pm

    Cool to see Young playing so well. Last week in Memphis he makes the semis and today he’s in the finals. Wasn’t he playing Challengers last year? Helluva turnaround. Wish my guys Isner and Gulbis could do something like that but they’re playing horrible.

    I’d like to know what specifically Young’s done the last few months to accomplish this. The season’s early but obv he did some incredible work in the offseason.

  • Dan Markowitz · February 22, 2015 at 6:41 pm

    Scoop, your Kei prediction was beautiful, but I’m not giving you a lot of credit for Dolgo. The guy has done zippo at slams except for the one year he got to the Aussie quarters beating Tsonga and Soderling along the way. Other than that, he’s gotten to only one other Rd of 16. He is not a top-flite player and I’d say even though he reached No. 13, his career at 26 has been a disappointment.

    Young is another guy who will never be a big time player. You hear yesterday he said he took a two-hour nap before the Tomic match and woke up irritable. Who takes a 2-hour nap before an afternoon match? That’s insane.

    The guy’s record at slams is horrible, 12-23. He’s reached one Rd of 16. That’s it. There’s no way unless he goes back to the juniors is DY ever sniffing the Top 10. And I like the guy, but you have to be realistic. Doing well at Memphis and Delray is not exactly groundbreaking play. Let’s see how he does at IW and Miami.

  • Scoop Malinowski · February 22, 2015 at 7:43 pm

    Doing well in Memphis and Delray, opens the door to do well in Masters Series. Confidence builds with winning. Young is winning a lot of matches. Now. Possibly the best streak of his career.

  • Scoop Malinowski · February 22, 2015 at 7:46 pm

    Credit to Dr. Ivo. He’s playing his best tennis. Young is a perfect opponent for him – breakable serve and not a threatening return to do damage on his service games. Ivo really is a frighteningly frustrating player to deal with. Maybe the all time most feared playing style in ATP history. Kokkinakis actually gave Ivo his toughest match all week in Delray. 6767. Watch out for Kokki this year.

  • Andrew Miller · February 23, 2015 at 12:55 am

    Good run by dy , karlovic hasn’t been broken all week. Karlovic is a gatekeeper to top thirty , so dy has a puzzle t. figure out. Relative to dy’s performance about 15 months ago dy is committed to his talent and the game, so this has been a good run. The expectations are creeping up again.

    Saw dy practice with spadea in delray some years back. Liked his game then, but clearly spadea just knew how to run the court and fluster dy with hard serving, solid strategy and pinpoint placement. dy has more tools in the kit. For any player like that it takes time to figure out how to use the right shot at the right moment. Personally i am glad he is on a good run these past few weeks. I agree the next few masters are important , probably because more people expect him to win more often. dy traditionally enjoys iw .

    Anyways. Some kudos for fogman. See…doubles matters. Fogman wins ao doubles, then wins rio title over nadal.

    Looks like my dubs theory is a winner. I borrowed it from scoop. A win anywhere in a pressured environment pays off in other competitive matches.

  • Andrew Miller · February 23, 2015 at 12:58 am

    Made a mistake..fogman beat nadal in rio semis, but ferrer beat fogman in title match. Fogman also beat nadal day after nadal had won his match at 3:21 am. Nonetheless, a win is a win and fogman did get a bounce from the ao doubles.

  • Scoop Malinowski · February 23, 2015 at 7:51 am

    Something happens to a player when he wins a title, especially a major title. Fognini is now a part of history, he is a grand slam champion. Just that little bit of confidence can change a player. Tennis is all about edges and minute differences. DY winning a singles title will be huge for his confidence. Look at Ivo’s reaction when he won yesterday, the joy, the ecstacy. Winning a title is an unbelievable feeling. Because it’s so hard to do. Watch out for Fog and Ivo this year.

  • Dan Markowitz · February 23, 2015 at 9:40 am

    You’ve got to differentiate between the JV and Varsity. When I played high school basketball, I feasted on the J.V. I was playing J.V. basketball as a freshman. But when I got to the varsity, and started my first game, a Friday night game against Valhalla, on the first play, our point guard drove to the basket and missed a layup and I went up for the tip-in, and our all-American center went up and two handed dunked over my head.

    DY and Dr. Ivo were feasting on the J.V. this past week. When they get to IW, they play against the varsity and it’ll be a lot harder. Look at Jared Donaldson, he wins a Challenger, but when he gets to Delray, he loses in first round of qualis. For JD, the qualis of Delray was the varsity.

  • Andrew Miller · February 23, 2015 at 5:42 pm

    dy did well to make the finals – Karlovic was lighting up returners all week, finishing with something just short of 100 aces. No one won even a game off his serve.

    True, Karlovic is the gatekeeper to the top 30 or so – so he’s a puzzle that the sub 30 players need to solve. That said, if you can return Karlovic’ serve, you probably can return just about any serve.

    Not sure what the need is anymore to pound dy – gotta admit he’s committed to the sport and it’s nice to see. Saw him hit with Spadea once and Spadea had him on a lot of counts, but you could tell that if dy had some of the Spadea strategy in him and consistency, he’d be a player folks would root for for years to come. It’s true also that his consistency does run hot and cold. There are a lot of players like this, so the more dy finds his range and fills that confidence tank the higher he will rise. I don’t think there’s anyone out there who doesn’t want to see this guy get a few big wins and trophies. He’s a lefty that likes being a lefty.

    Seriously, lefties like Manny, Bellucci – they’ve been on the ups, but for the most part tennis fans don’t have too many lefties to celebrate (Rafa is a righty playing lefty ball, minor quibble). Bellucci finally started playing more like he’s capable of at the US open and in a big Davis Cup match, but crumbled before Nadal in the Rio tournament. That to me leaves dy – and when he’s playing well it’s a very good show.

    One of my favorite players, no apologies. I like him and I like Jamie Hampton and Lucy Safarova on the WTA side. Appreciate the clever use of the court.

  • Scoop Malinowski · February 23, 2015 at 10:38 pm

    I think Dr. Ivo is more than a gatekeeper. He has shown he can not only threaten but he can BEAT the BEST. Gatekeepers can’t beat the best. Big respect for Dr. Ivo, he is a marvel of a player.

  • Andrew Miller · February 23, 2015 at 10:56 pm

    Hard for me to sing the praises of Karlovic, but I’ll say his serve is formidable and he paired it with a suite of decent groundstrokes and sound coaching. Anyone who plays him can no longer take for granted that they can get his serve back and the match will be over, those days are long gone. Karlovic has also had a comeback and made four atp finals last year, no slouch.

    Not surprised he beat dy. DY’s return had to be on the mark – the Karlovic trajectory is hard to get back and dy must have spent some time worrying about keeping his own serve given that he must’ve felt he couldn’t break. It’s a nerve wrecking experience I’m sure.

    I think for tomorrow’s match Harrison has a good shot against dy given he has some momentum, some time on the ground and dy is flying across the country to get there (or across the Texas pan-handle).

  • Harold · February 24, 2015 at 9:31 am

    Harry/DY in the first round, just adds to my impression that doubles,mixed, challenger or 250’s wins, only help if you continue to have good results.
    Both Harry and DY are playing well, now one goes on, other back to the drawing board.
    You can win a Challenger, or even a 250, then the big boys show up to an IW or Miami,bad draw and there goes the mo.
    It’s all about the draw, Thiem has faced Bautista -Agut a couple of times recently, and it’s cost him. He cant get Gulbis in every match.

    Maybe for a guy like Fed, winning Oly doubs helped, but he can work his way into the next tournament and keep on a winning streak,he is not facing Nadal or Djoko right off the bat.

    There should be a video shoot of the lockerroom when draws come out. The guys wo advance, waiting to see where they are placed. One slot, might be qualifier vs. qualifier, another might be qualifier vs Djoko. The cursing when the slots are filled must be either hysterical or hesrtwrenching

  • Andrew Miller · February 24, 2015 at 9:47 am

    Ha, Harold that is a great comment . Required reading or viewing!

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