05/09/2011 01:20 CEST - INTERVISTE

Donald Young (04-09-2011)

Q. Andy was asked or told that we've been complaining about American tennis not being very good. Obviously nobody in the second week of Wimbledon. Now there will be at least four American men in the second week here. Nice competition. Do you see an improvement there?
DONALD YOUNG: Yeah, I mean, I think the players, we've heard it quite a bit. Not necessarily me all the time, but I'm sure Andy, Mardy, John, James, and Sam have heard it quite a bit.
Yeah, it's great. I think that's the way it should be here, especially at the US Open. The crowd support really pull you through a lot of matches. Like I say, I think they've been close. For Andy, James, and Mardy, they've been holding it down for quite a while. They've done well, but the competition around the world has gotten better.
I just think it's tougher to do it.

Q. You said that everybody's light comes on at a different time. Has your light come on and why?
DONALD YOUNG: I think it's coming on. I mean, hopefully it is. I mean, I don't have a real reason, but I have things I think are part of the reason why.
I would say I worked harder and did a lot of different things in the off season, tried to train a little different, just try different things, be a little more open minded.
I don't want the same results, so I have to try something different. You can't get different results doing the same old thing.

Q. Is it possible that the Twitter incident was a good thing?
DONALD YOUNG: Definitely not (smiling).

Q. Jose was saying it got everything out in the open.
DONALD YOUNG: Yeah, it's not the way it should have been done. But things are smooth now. We're all okay and great. So hopefully we can move forward.

Q. You've said you've done a lot of different things in the off season. Could you be a little more specific.
DONALD YOUNG: Yeah, well, first of all, I went down to L.A. for close to a month with the USTA in Carson, trained with Mardy and Sam, hit with Pete. That was only a couple times. Worked out with the trainers they have there.
We were doing two a days in the gym, two a days tennis, which is more than I've ever done before. For a time right after I was beat, but I think it's starting to pay off now.

Q. What prompted you going there?
DONALD YOUNG: Like I said, I wanted to do something different. All the off seasons I've spent a week or two training and then at home just kind of having fun. I could have trained harder at home, but I didn't.
So, you know, to take me away from home it made me I was actually there by myself, so to do that was really different, to be by myself every day to get up and eat breakfast at the same time and go work out. It was great.

Q. How difficult has it been with all the expectation on your shoulders from such a young age and the results not coming?
DONALD YOUNG: It was tough because I wanted to win. I was used to winning. When you're used to winning and you start losing, it doesn't feel good. Then I was looking at myself at 15 playing grown men 25 to 30. If I look back at myself, even at 22 I would hate to lose to someone 15, so I would try a lot harder anyway. And I really can't see myself losing to someone 15.
So it was a learning experience. I think those things I did helped me now. It's better late than never.

Q. You've had expectations and people have opinions pro and con. Today out on the court you were surrounded by a stadium full of people that were a hundred percent for you. What did that feel like?
DONALD YOUNG: Pretty much every time I play here they're a hundred percent for me. It feels great. At times it can be really good, and at times they can want you to win so bad they say a lot of things that at the time I know they mean well, but you're kind of upset about it.
Other than that, the crowd was great. Without them, I wouldn't have won at all today. I don't think I would have had a chance because, like I said, I was kind of getting a little fatigued. The energy was kind of going away. They definitely pushed me through.

Q. Coming out of here, what do you need to do next?
DONALD YOUNG: Just keep working hard. I'm not to where I want to be physically wise. I just want to just keep working on my game and get better. There's a lot of things I can improve. I feel like you can always improve and never feel like you know everything, which was probably a big thing of mine.
I felt I didn't need to work as hard as other people. You know, talent beats hard work when talent doesn't work hard.

Q. When you were serving for the first set you got broken. You might have said a few not nice words on the court, slammed down your racquet. You were going through a rough patch. What's going through your mind and how did you get it back together?
DONALD YOUNG: I don't remember saying any bad words (laughter).
But, yeah, you know, I feel like if I play too calm and don't show anything, it's not great. If I, you know, show too much, it's not great either. So kind of have to find that good middle ground.
You know, I was a little disappointed I didn't serve out the first set. I thought I was giving a chance away and maybe he would take advantage. You know, I had to come back in the last match with Wawrinka, I came back a couple times, so was pretty confident I could do it again.
That helped me calm down again and then I started to play better again. I don't think you saw any more negative emotions.

Q. What do you expect the next two days to be like?
DONALD YOUNG: I don't know. Hopefully it's the same as it's been. I want to try to keep my routine, rituals, doing the same things I've been doing during the tournament. Not change too much. I know some things might change or might not. I'm going to try to keep, as much as possible, to keep it the same.

Q. At your lowest point, did you ever feel like you'd never experience a run like you're having?
DONALD YOUNG: For sure. At times I wasn't winning matches at challengers and I was losing to guys 300 in the world. Actually this year I lost to some players 300.
To go from losing a first round challenger in Aptos to the Round of 16 of the US Open is great.
But you have your highs and lows in tennis. I've definitely had the lows. Hopefully I'll have a lot more highs.

Q. What do you think it was that you decided to stick it out?
DONALD YOUNG: As far as?

Q. Do you feel now, stepping on court here, differently in terms of your confidence and your own expectations of yourself than you have in the past?
DONALD YOUNG: Yeah, for sure. Like when I step on the court I actually feel like I can win, not just put up a good front, have a good match. Before it was more so, Don't go out here and get beat, which I had done previously.
But now I feel like I can actually win. That's a great feeling to go on the court, and especially in three out of five set matches I can actually go the distance. When the clock hits 2 hours, 30 minutes, 3 hours, you're getting close to tapping out.
For sure, that's definitely a big thing to feel like I can win matches now.

Q. You're unique because you can play all court, soft hands. I wonder how much of what's happening now is the product of confidence and how much is growing into your game and learning where to play on the court?
DONALD YOUNG: Definitely I feel like my game I've had that discussion with my team for a while, like how should I play, because I can play so many different ways. I feel not every way can I play great. It's like Jack of all trades, master of none.
Yeah, I'm definitely finding a way I can play consistently. You don't have to use absolutely everything for every opponent if it's not needed. But if it's needed, you can do it.
When you go out there with a solid game plan, you know what you can do, you can execute it and not just if it doesn't work one time, go to something else too soon.

Q. You have a style that's different from most of the players. Kind of have that Agassi thing going where you have the earrings, the sideways hat. How does style play into your life and is it important to you?
DONALD YOUNG: The earrings, I like the way they look. People like the way they look also. As far as the hat, when I first did it, it was an accident. People liked it. It's really not necessarily you know, at one time it was really extreme. But now I feel like I'm putting it on straight, but I guess I move it a little to the left. You guys seem to really get on it.
As far as style, yeah, I like to play with style. I don't like to be boring. I like colors. I like to wear flashy things if I'm feeling good. If I'm not feeling good, I want to wear something neutral to not be seen in.
 

Redazione