On Sunday, Patrick McEnroe — the general manager of USTA’s Player Development — was hyping Donald Young’s resurgence, praising the gifted-but-inconsistent American for getting back into the top 50. A day later, the 25-year-old Young was crashing out of the U.S. Open in his first match.
After running out to a 4-0 first-set lead, Young fell apart and watched Blaz Kavcic storm back for a 7-5, 6-4, 6-4 straight-sets win.
“I was up 4-0 in the first, two breaks and I got sloppy and didn’t break,” Young said. “I didn’t think that would turn anything, but at 5-3 I didn’t play a good service game and he broke back. His confidence started to build from there. [I’m] obviously very disappointed. I’ve been playing well.
“I wanted to come in and play well at the Open. I wasn’t able to put my best foot forward, and keep progressing at the tournament that you’d give up all the others to do well here. … When you get up and have those opportunities, you have to take them. You have to problem-solve a little better. I didn’t problem solve well.’’
The loss was all the more galling because Young was right — he had been playing well. He’d just made the semifinals of the Citi Open, the first semifinal he had reached in three years. But Monday, after failing to break in that first set, his composure broke, even arguing with fans in the stands.
“Definitely I was frustrated, 4-0, two breaks, I was giving it to the guy,” Young said. “I was beating him pretty good, you want to keep stepping on his neck, take the set try and get an early lead. I wasn’t able to do that.
“… Some stuff was said [to a fan]. It was kind of annoying. It was like something about, “Go ahead and cry to your mother again.” It made me pretty mad. So I said shut up. It wasn’t beneficial. … And I was down 5-6; all that combination wasn’t great.’’
Maria Sharapova stormed back to drill friend and fellow Russian Maria Kirilenko 6-4, 6-0. The 2006 champ trailed 4-2 in the first set, but ran off the last 10 straight games to improve to 17-0 in night matches at Arthur Ashe.
“We spent a lot of time in the juniors away from the courts, practicing together, competing against each other. We certainly have a big history together,’’ Sharapova said. “But when you go out on the court, it’s always that fine line: You want to be the winner, you have to face that person as a competitor, not someone you’ve known for years and developed a friendship with. It’s always a tricky balance.”
Kirilenko took a long injury time out after dropping her seventh straight game to have her left ankle re-taped, and Sharapova had some fun at her friend’s expense when asked what she would change if she were in charge of tennis.
“I’d start charging for medical time outs, and then we’d see who really needs them,” Sharapova said. “I don’t know what [fee] we’d put on them. $2,500? That would be fun.’’
The always-focused Sharapova didn’t notice actor Alec Baldwin in the front row behind the baseline easily fielding an errant shot by Kirilenko on one hop and tossing it to the ballboy.
“I had no idea. Congratulations,’’ Sharapova said to laughter.
Novak Djokovic brushed aside Argentine Diego Schwartzman 6-1, 6-2, 6-4, and No. 10 Caroline Wozniacki beat Magdalena Rybarikova 6-1, 3-6, 2-0 after Rybarikova was forced to retire.