Monday, September 05, 2011

Donald Young-Another Reason I'm Watching The US Open

Y'all know I'm keeping up with my fave tennis playing siblings and I play the game myself when I can find an opponent. 

While flipping through the TV channels yesterday I stumbled across a men's US Open match that grabbed my attention because of the young tennis playing brother in it.

He is 22 year old Donald Young, Jr.  He was born in Chicago to tennis playing parents and was considered a tennis prodigy.  The left handed Young was at one time the number one ranked junior player in the world but has had an up and down career since turning pro in 2004.   

I got to watch him finish off the third set in front of a raucous partisan crowd as he beat 24th seeded Argentinan Juan Ignacio Chela in straight sets 7-5, 6-4, 6-3 to move on to the US Open men's singles fourth round   It also marks the first time since 2003 that four American men have reached the fourth round and the deepest that Young has gone in a Grand Slam tournament. 

Young's next match is a clash with tournament 4th seed Andy Murray of Great Britain. .If Young survives that match he'll play the winner of the John Isner-Gilles Simon match in the quarterfinals.  

He's also on the same side of the US open bracket with Spain's Rafael Nadal.   

But the question many tennis fans are asking is are we finally seeing the birth of an American men's tennis player who can challenge the dominance of the European superstars like Nadal,  Federer and now Djokovic?

Only time will tell.

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