Donald Young

Young in 2023
Full name	Donald Oliver Young Jr.
Country (sports)	United States
Residence	Atlanta, Georgia, US
Born	(1989-07-23)July 23, 1989 (age 36) Chicago, Illinois, US
Height	6 ft 0 in (1.83 m)
Turned pro	2004
Retired	2024
Plays	Left-handed (two-handed backhand)
Prize money	$4,694,661
Singles
Career record	124–190
Career titles	0
Highest ranking	No. 38 (February 27, 2012)
Grand Slam singles results
Australian Open	3R (2014)
French Open	3R (2014)
Wimbledon	2R (2016,2017)
US Open	4R (2011,2015)
Other tournaments
Olympic Games	1R (2012)
Doubles
Career record	45–76
Career titles	0
Highest ranking	No. 43 (August 14, 2017)
Grand Slam doubles results
Australian Open	3R (2017)
French Open	F (2017)
Wimbledon	2R (2014)
US Open	3R (2015)
Grand Slam mixed doubles results
US Open	F (2024)
Last updated on: 5 September 2024.

Donald Oliver Young Jr. (born July 23, 1989) is an American professionalpickleball player with the AmericanPPA Tour andMajor League Pickleball, and also a former professionaltennis player. Young had a tennis career-highATP singles ranking of No. 38, achieved on 27 February 2012, and doubles ranking of world No. 43, achieved on 14 August 2017. As a junior he was ranked No. 1 in the world in 2005. His best singles performance was reaching the fourth round of the2011 US Open,^[1] as well as the2015 US Open. In doubles, he reached the final of the2017 French Open, partneringSantiago González. In mixed doubles, he reached the final of the2024 US Open, partneringTaylor Townsend.^[2]

Young began playing tennis at age three with mother, Illona, and father, Donald sr., who are both tennis teaching professionals.^[1]

In 2001 he came in second toJesse Levine in the U.S. Clay Court 14 Nationals inFort Lauderdale, Florida. He was up 5-0 in the third set of the final.^[3][4] Young had lost the first set, won the second, and was leading 5–0 and serving for the match at 40–15. Levine scored 23 consecutive points to defeat Young 7–5.^[5]

In 2003, Young won the Orange Bowl 16-under title (defeating Thron), becoming the first American to win that age division title sinceJim Courier in 1986.

He turned professional in 2004; he played ATP Tour, Futures andChallenger events. Due to the slow start, his handlers were often criticized for pushing him too fast during the early stages.^[6] In 2004, Young reached the Orange Bowl 18-under final (lost to Neilly). He won the Easter Bowl 14s and 18s titles in 2003 and 2004 and was named as Davis Cup practice partner for the quarterfinal tie against Spain in 2007.^[1]

Young was, in 2005, ranked the No. 1 junior player in the world. Young was the youngest male to win a Grand Slam event, winning the Australian Open Junior Championships in 2005. Young also won the US Open Junior Doubles Championship withAlex Clayton.

In 2005, he became the youngest year-end world No. 1 in junior rankings ever at 16 years, 5 months (one month younger thanRichard Gasquet in 2002). Young won the Australian Open junior title at age 15 to become youngest-ever and first African-American man to be ranked No. 1 in the world. He was also the first American to win the Australian junior title and finish No. 1 sinceAndy Roddick in 2000. He advanced to the semifinals at Wimbledon and quarterfinals at the US Open in 2005. In doubles, Young won the junior US Open title (with Clayton) and reached the final at the Australian Open (withThiemo de Bakker). In 2007, he won the Wimbledon junior title and was the first American to win sinceScott Humphries in 1994. As number one, Young won the Kalamazoo U.S. Junior Championships in 2006, afterJesse Levine forfeited in the finals due tofood poisoning.^[7]

In January 2007, he reached the finals of a Futures tournament on theITF Men's Circuit, as well as winning a Futures title in April. In July 2007, Young won theJunior Wimbledon title, beating top seedVladimir Ignatik in the final. No American won the championship again untilNoah Rubin in 2014.^[8] Shortly thereafter, Young won a Challenger tournament, and his ranking rose sharply to No. 221.

His rank rose sharply, from No. 92 to No. 7 on theITF Junior Circuit (as of July 13, 2007) after he won the Junior Wimbledon Championships. He opted to play only some of the Grand Slam tournaments in 2007 and concentrate on playing professional events. On August 19, 2007, Young won his first ATP Tour level singles match. In the first round ofNew Haven, he beat fellow AmericanAmer Delic in three sets. In the following round, he lost a tight three-setter to RussianNikolay Davydenko. Young then received a wildcard into the mainUS Open draw. On August 27, 2007, Young defeated AustralianChris Guccione in the first round. This was his first career victory in a Grand Slam match. On August 30, Young won his second-round match by default. It was against heavily favored opponent Richard Gasquet, who had fallen ill during the tournament and officially withdrew after morning practice. Young fell in the third round to unseededFeliciano López in four sets.

Young carried the momentum into the fall, making it to the finals of four Challenger tournaments and posting an overall fall record of 21–7 on the Challenger circuit.^[9] This was enough to hoist him into the top 100 on the ATP rankings. He lost in the finals of the JSM Challenger inChampaign, Illinois, at theUniversity of Illinois to Jesse Levine. His talents were recognized by theAssociation of Tennis Professionals in December 2007, as for Young was one of 11 honored in the2007 Century Club^[10]

In the Australian Open, Young lost in the first round toMichael Berrer in four sets. There were much higher hopes for Young as he made it to the quarterfinals of the tennis tournament in Memphis. Young defeatedSam Warburg andAlejandro Falla in the first and second rounds, respectively, before losing in a tough three-set match toJonas Björkman. At Indian Wells, Young made it to the third round. He defeatedBobby Reynolds in the first round. Then in the second round, he took out 32nd seed, Feliciano López in three sets. He lost to eventual championRafael Nadal in the third round. He lost in the first round of the French Open, then lost a close four-set match in the first round at Wimbledon against Jesse Levine. At the Canadian Open, Young won two preliminary matches to qualify for the tournament, before dropping his first-round match toGilles Simon. At theCountrywide Classic in Los Angeles, he defeated former world No. 2,Tommy Haas (ranked No. 40 at the time). In the first round of the US Open, Young lost toJames Blake in a five-set thriller. He came back from down a break to win the fourth set. Although the final set was tied 4–4, with the help of two key calls overturned on challenges in the last two games, Blake won. Young won the Sacramento Challenger tournament on October 13, 2008.

Young lost toAlejandro Falla in qualifying for Wimbledon. Young received a wildcard into2009 Legg Mason Tennis Classic in Washington, D.C. He played againstLleyton Hewitt who won the match. In the qualifying competition for the2009 US Open, he won his first match againstMarco Crugnola. In the second, he beatGuillermo Olaso, and he won his third-round match againstLukáš Rosol to qualify. In the first round of the main draw, he was beaten byTommy Robredo. He failed to qualify for theThailand Open. However, he received a lucky loser spot and had a first-round bye. He lost in the second round toAndreas Beck.^[11] Young failed to qualify for the China Open.^[12] Young lost toIlija Bozoljac in the first round of the Tiburon (CA) Challenger on October 12.

Young playedLouk Sorensen in the first round of the Calabasas Challenger and won. He then defeatedTaylor Dent and won his third-round match againstLuka Gregorc. He then defeatedMichael Yani andMichael Russell to win the Calabasas Challenger. Young won his first three matches at the Charlottesville (VA) Challenger againstVincent Spadea,Kevin Anderson, andDominic Inglot. Young lost toKevin Kim in the semifinals. Young defeatedJesse Levine in the first round of the Knoxville (TN) Challenger andAlex Kuznetsov in the second round. Young lost toGrega Žemlja in the quarterfinals.

Young defeatedJack Sock in the first round of the wildcard draw for the Australian Open. He then lost toRyan Harrison in the second round.^[13]

Young defeatedChristophe Rochus in the first round of the2010 Australian Open and was defeated in the second by Lleyton Hewitt. Young defeatedTim Smyczek in the first round of the Honolulu Challenger. Young then defeatedGrigor Dimitrov and Robert Kendrick. He lost to Michael Russell in the semifinals as he retired. Young failed to qualify inMemphis,Delray Beach,Indian Wells, andMiami.

Young received a wildcard into the main draw of theU.S. Clay Championship, but lost to Kevin Anderson in the first round. Young received a wildcard into the Baton Rouge Challenger and defeatedTatsuma Ito in the first round but lost toGo Soeda in the second. Young lost toCarsten Ball in the first round of the Tallahassee Challenger. Young defeatedGreg Ouellette in round one of the Savannah Challenger. Young then defeatedRyler DeHeart andCătălin Gârd, he lost toRyan Sweeting in the semifinals. Young lost toJoseph Sirianni in the first round of the Sarasota Challenger. He defeated Robert Kendrick in the final of LA Tennis Open to win the Challenger, andLeonardo Tavares in the first round of the Ojai Challenger. Young then defeatedDayne Kelly andLuka Gregorc. He lost toBobby Reynolds in the semifinals.

Young failed to qualify for Wimbledon. Young defeatedRyan Harrison in the first round of the Winnetka Challenger, and then he defeatedSimon Stadler andLester Cook. Young lost toTim Smyczek in the semifinals. Young defeatedGreg Jones in the first round of the Aptos Challenger. He then defeatedArtem Sitak,Ilija Bozoljac, andSomdev Devvarman. Young lost toMarinko Matosevic in the final. In the first round of the Atlanta ATP Tournament, Young defeatedDudi Sela, but then lost to Kevin Anderson. Young failed to qualify for the Legg Mason. He lost toErnests Gulbis in the first round in Cincinnati. Young defeatedStéphane Robert in the first round in New Haven, before losing toJuan Ignacio Chela in three sets. Young lost to Gilles Simon in the first round of theUS Open. Young and partner Robert Kendrick won the doubles championship at the Virginia National Bank Challenger in November.

Young lost toMarin Čilić in the first round of the2011 Australian Open. At theIndian Wells Masters 1000 event, he defeated his highest-ranked opponent to-date,Andy Murray (No. 4), winning in straight sets. In April, Young won theTallahassee Tennis Challenger. He advanced to the second round of the2011 Aegon International and the2011 Aegon Championships. Young made it to his first ATP semifinal in August at the Washington, D.C. ATP 500 event.

At the2011 US Open, Young defeatedLukáš Lacko in the first round, and in the second round world No. 14Stanislas Wawrinka in his first five-set victory, in 4 hours and 21 minutes. He advanced to the third round in aGrand Slam tournament for the first time in his career by defeatingJuan Ignacio Chela in straight sets. Young was defeated in the fourth round by Andy Murray in a rain-delayed match.

At the start of October, Young triumphed over world No. 14Gaël Monfils in a come-from-behind three-setter, before losing to Andy Murray in his first ATP final at the PTT Thailand Open.

He finished the year ranked in the top 40 at No. 39, the highest year-end ranking in his career.

Young went 17 matches without a victory during 2012 before defeatingLeonardo Mayer at the 2012Winston-Salem Open.^[14]

He competed in the men's singles at the2012 Summer Olympics.^[15]

At theUS Open, he was defeated by top seedRoger Federer in the first round.^[16]

Young failed to qualify for the 2013 Australian Open and for Wimbledon. He did qualify for the US Open and won his first-round match againstMartin Kližan. Young won back-to-back ATP Challenger tournaments at Napa Valley and Sacramento during late September and early October.

Young received a wildcard into the2014 Australian Open. He eventually made it to the third round and thus reached a ranking of No. 79 after the tournament.

Young represented the United States in a first roundDavis Cup tie against Great Britain. He played one rubber and lost toAndy Murray in straight sets on clay insidePetco Park.

Young made it to the third round of the French Open, eventually losing in five sets toGuillermo García-López. Young made it to the semifinals of theWashington Open losing to the top ranked CanadianMilos Raonic.

Young reached the final in theDelray Beach Open, his first ATP singles final since 2011, but lost in straight sets toIvo Karlović. In March, Young played Andy Murray in a Davis Cup tie and lost in four sets, as well as losing to Murray again later in March in Miami.

At theUS Open, Young became a darling of the American fans en route to matching his 2011 performance by reaching the round of 16. He notched dramatic come-from-behind victories against his first three opponents, triumphing in the third round via a thrilling five-set victory over 22nd-rankedViktor Troicki.^[17] He then lost to fifth-seededStan Wawrinka in four sets, thus failing to advance to the quarterfinal stage, which would have marked a new career-best performance at a major.^[18] Prior to his final match of the tournament, some of Young's shoes reportedly went missing from his locker inside theBillie Jean King National Tennis Center.^[19]

2016 was an average year for Young with his best performance coming at theHall of Fame Open with a semifinal appearance.

In early 2017, Young saw major success. Semifinal appearances at theDelray Beach Open and theMemphis Open were followed up by fourth round appearances atIndian Wells and theMiami Open. These results pushed his ranking to No. 42.

At the French Open, Young partnered withSantiago Gonzalez resulting in a run to the finals.^[20] He also registered 100 career singles victories in 2017.

At the2018 Australian Open, he was the first round opponent for former world No. 1Novak Djokovic, despite fighting hard he was defeated in straight sets. TheUS Open was his last major to date. He lost in the first round to eventual finalist,Juan Martín del Potro, in straight sets.

In 2019, Young only registered two matches on the ATP Tour which both came in as losses. Throughout 2019–2022, his ranking would plummet all the way down to No. 646. He entered the2021 Delray Beach Open qualifications as No. 327, his lowest ranking since his early teenage years at No. 335 on 4 June 2007. Ranked No. 646, he entered qualifying also at the2022 Atlanta Open as a wildcard where he defeated eighth seedJ. J. Wolf, before losing in the second round toDominik Koepfer.

Young played his last matches at theUS Open partneringTaylor Townsend in mixed doubles,^[21][22][23] where the duo reached the final.^[24][2] The pair lost in straight sets toSara Errani andAndrea Vavassori.^[25]

Young has played four seasons ofWorld TeamTennis, making his debut in 2016 with thePhiladelphia Freedoms, and playing another two seasons for the Freedoms in 2017 and 2019. It was announced he will be joining thePhiladelphia Freedoms during the 2020 WTT season set to begin July 12.^[26]

He paired up withFabrice Martin in men's doubles for the majority of the season, helping the Freedoms earn a No. 1 seed headed into the WTT Playoffs. The Freedoms would ultimately fall in the semifinals to theNew York Empire, who continued on to win the championship.

He uses Angell now.^[27] He is sponsored by Boast for clothing andK-Swiss for footwear.^[28][29]

Result	Year	Tournament	Surface	Partner	Opponents	Score
Loss	2017	French Open	Clay	Santiago González	Ryan Harrison Michael Venus	6–7(5–7), 7–6(7–4), 3–6

Result	Year	Tournament	Surface	Partner	Opponents	Score
Loss	2024	US Open	Hard	Taylor Townsend	Sara Errani Andrea Vavassori	6–7(0–7), 5–7

Result	W–L	Date	Tournament	Tier	Surface	Opponent	Score
Loss	0–1	Oct 2011	Thailand Open, Thailand	ATP 250	Hard (i)	Andy Murray	2–6, 0–6
Loss	0–2	Feb 2015	Delray Beach Open, United States	ATP 250	Hard	Ivo Karlović	3–6, 3–6

Result	W–L	Date	Tournament	Tier	Surface	Partner	Opponents	Score
Loss	0–1	Feb 2015	Memphis Open, United States	ATP 250	Hard (i)	Artem Sitak	Mariusz Fyrstenberg Santiago González	7–5, 6–7(1–7), [8–10]
Loss	0–2	Jun 2017	French Open, France	Grand Slam	Clay	Santiago González	Ryan Harrison Michael Venus	6–7(5–7), 7–6(7–4), 3–6

Result	W–L	Date	Tournament	Tier	Surface	Opponent	Score
Loss	0–1	Jan 2007	USA F1, Tampa	Futures	Hard	Michael Lammer	6–1, 3–6, 1–6
Win	1–1	Apr 2007	USA F8, Little Rock	Futures	Hard	Kei Nishikori	6–2, 6–2
Win	2–1	Jul 2007	Aptos, USA	Challenger	Hard	Bobby Reynolds	7–5, 6–3
Loss	2–2	Sep 2007	Tulsa, USA	Challenger	Hard	Jesse Witten	6–7(8–10), 5–7
Loss	2–3	Oct 2007	Calabasas, USA	Challenger	Hard	Robert Kendrick	6–3, 6–7(4–7), 4–6
Loss	2–4	Nov 2007	Louisville, USA	Challenger	Hard (i)	Matthias Bachinger	6–0, 5–7, 3–6
Loss	2–5	Nov 2007	Champaign–Urbana, USA	Challenger	Hard (i)	Jesse Levine	6–7(4–7), 6–7(4–7)
Win	3–5	Nov 2008	Sacramento, USA	Challenger	Hard	Robert Kendrick	6–4, 6–1
Loss	3–6	Nov 2008	Louisville, USA	Challenger	Hard (i)	Robert Kendrick	1–6, 1–6
Loss	3–7	Apr 2009	Tallahassee, USA	Challenger	Clay	John Isner	5–7, 4–6
Win	4–7	Oct 2009	Calabasas, USA	Challenger	Hard	Michael Russell	7–6(7–4), 6–1
Win	5–7	May 2010	Carson, USA	Challenger	Hard	Robert Kendrick	6–4, 6–4
Loss	5–8	Jul 2010	Aptos, USA	Challenger	Hard	Marinko Matosevic	4–6, 2–6
Win	6–8	Apr 2011	Tallahassee, USA	Challenger	Hard	Wayne Odesnik	6–4, 3–6, 6–3
Loss	6–9	May 2011	Savannah, USA	Challenger	Hard	Wayne Odesnik	4–6, 4–6
Win	7–9	Apr 2013	León, Mexico	Challenger	Hard	Jimmy Wang	6–2, 6–2
Win	8–9	Sep 2013	Napa, USA	Challenger	Hard	Matthew Ebden	4–6, 6–4, 6–2
Win	9–9	Oct 2013	Sacramento, USA	Challenger	Hard	Tim Smyczek	7–5, 6–3

Result	W–L	Date	Tournament	Tier	Surface	Partner	Opponents	Score
Loss	0–1	Jan 2006	USA F1, Tampa	Futures	Hard	Alex Clayton	Alex Kuznetsov Horia Tecău	6–7(9–11), 3–6
Win	1–1	Feb 2007	Costa Rica F1, San José	Futures	Hard	Patrick Briaud	Matej Bočko Ján Stančík	6–3, 6–3
Win	2–1	Feb 2007	Joplin, USA	Challenger	Hard	Patrick Briaud	Goran Dragicevic Mirko Pehar	6–4, 6–4
Loss	2–2	Mar 2007	USA F6, McAllen	Futures	Hard	Peter Polansky	Patrick Briaud Lesley Joseph	5–7, 3–6
Win	3–2	Apr 2007	USA F8, Little Rock	Futures	Hard	Kei Nishikori	Brendan Evans Brian Wilson	7–6(7–5), 6–4
Win	4–2	May 2007	Tunica Resorts, USA	Challenger	Clay (i)	Paul Goldstein	Pablo Cuevas Horacio Zeballos	4–6, 6–1, [10–4]
Loss	4–3	Aug 2007	Vancouver, Canada	Challenger	Hard	Alex Kuznetsov	Rik de Voest Ashley Fisher	1–6, 2–6
Loss	4–4	Feb 2009	Carson, USA	Challenger	Hard	Lester Cook	Scott Lipsky David Martin	6–7(3–7), 6–4, [6–10]
Loss	4–5	Oct 2010	Sacramento, USA	Challenger	Hard	Nicholas Monroe	Rik de Voest Izak van der Merwe	6–4, 4–6, [7–10]
Win	5–5	Nov 2010	Charlottesville, USA	Challenger	Hard (i)	Robert Kendrick	Ryler DeHeart Pierre-Ludovic Duclos	7–6(7–5), 7–6(7–3)
Loss	5–6	Oct 2013	Sacramento, USA	Challenger	Hard	Jarmere Jenkins	Matt Reid John-Patrick Smith	6–7(1–7), 6–4, [12–14]
Loss	5–7	Nov 2013	Charlottesville, USA	Challenger	Hard (i)	Jarmere Jenkins	Steve Johnson Tim Smyczek	4–6, 3–6
Win	6–7	Jan 2019	Nouméa, New Caledonia	Challenger	Hard	Dustin Brown	André Göransson Sem Verbeek	7–5, 6–4
Loss	6–8	Jun 2019	Columbus, USA	Challenger	Hard (i)	Hans Hach	Roberto Maytín Jackson Withrow	7–6(7–4), 6–7(2–7), [5–10]
Loss	6–9	Apr 2021	Tallahassee, USA	Challenger	Clay	Sekou Bangoura	Orlando Luz Rafael Matos	6-7(2-7), 2-6

Current through the2021 Delray Beach Open.

#	Player	Rank	Event	Surface	Rd	Score	DYR
2011
1.	Andy Murray	5	Indian Wells Open, United States	Hard	2R	7–6(7–4), 6–3	143
2.	Gaël Monfils	9	Thailand Open, Thailand	Hard (i)	SF	4–6, 7–6(7–5), 7–6(7–5)	55
2015
3.	Tomáš Berdych	6	Canadian Open, Canada	Hard	2R	7–6(7–5), 6–3	79

• Donald Young at theAssociation of Tennis Professionals
• Donald Young at theInternational Tennis Federation
• Donald Young atTeam USA (archive August 1, 2022)
• Donald Young atOlympics.com
• Donald Young atOlympedia
• Donald Young's Broken Promise: What Happened to the Former Phenom?
• Young recent match resultsArchived February 2, 2009, at theWayback Machine
• Young world ranking historyArchived February 2, 2009, at theWayback Machine
• Biofile profile interview with Donald Young
• New York Times Donald Young article (Archived January 7, 2008, at theWayback Machine)

Awards
Preceded by Gaël Monfils	ITF Junior World Champion 2005	Succeeded by Thiemo de Bakker

• 1989 births
• African-American tennis players
• American male tennis players
• Australian Open (tennis) junior champions
• Living people
• Tennis players from Atlanta
• Tennis players from Chicago
• Tennis players from Georgia (U.S. state)
• Tennis players from Illinois
• US Open (tennis) junior champions
• Wimbledon junior champions
• Tennis players at the 2012 Summer Olympics
• Olympic tennis players for the United States
• Grand Slam (tennis) champions in boys' doubles
• Grand Slam (tennis) champions in boys' singles
• 21st-century African-American sportsmen
• 20th-century African-American sportsmen
• American male pickleball players
• 21st-century American sportsmen
• 20th-century American sportsmen

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