Whenever his fascinating odyssey reaches its conclusion, Donald Young won’t mind being a cautionary tale as long as his story has a happy ending.
If it ends the way it began, then the 22-year-old former tennis prodigy will be remembered for all the wrong reasons — as a poster child for the young, talented player pushed too early by his parents to a career dead end before reaching his potential.
But one of the developing stories to this U.S. Open is that Young, whose fourth-round match against No. 4 seed Andy Murray yesterday was postponed by rain until today, is exactly where he’s always envisioned himself — in contention at a Grand Slam.
It’s just taken him a little longer than expected to arrive.
“What’s nice about this week is you’re seeing Donald in a setting where he probably thought he was going to be a few years back,” four-time Grand Slam winner and current Davis Cup captain Jim Courier told The Post yesterday. “But he probably appreciates it more now having traveled the road he’s traveled.”
The path to get here, indeed, has been littered with potholes and detours thanks to what many in the tennis community believe are the result of some questionable decisions by his parents, Donald and Illana, who also serve as his coaches.
The wild ride for Young began when he was 10 and serving as a ballboy at a senior tournament in Chicago, where he got to hit with John McEnroe. McEnroe was so impressed with Young he raved about him publicly, predicting big things for him.
By age 15, he was signed by athlete mega-agent IMG and Young, an African American from inner-city Chicago, was projected to be tennis’ Tiger Woods.
But instead of opting at the start to play in some second-tier tournaments, which would allow him to gain confidence with some wins, Young was pushed by his parents and IMG into playing against the big boys right away.
He was drummed so badly that it drained the confidence he’d built en route to becoming a top-ranked junior player. Young quickly went from child prodigy to overhyped bust and he was barely old enough for a driver’s license.
Given Young’s downward spiral, you wouldn’t have blamed him if he wanted out of that pressure-packed world, preferring to be a normal kid and go to college.
He persevered, but still had his share of forgettable moments — like when he ripped the USTA in a series of profanity-laced tweets when it opted not to give him a wild-card entry into the French Open earlier this summer.
Though Young says all is good with him and the USTA, how deliciously ironic that he has a chance to become the story of this U.S. Open — the jewel of the USTA events?
“He’s still an unpolished diamond,” Courier said. “What you’re seeing now is the tip of the iceberg. I hope this taste of success is going to fuel his fire and make him want it even more and make him push even harder.”