American Tennis Phenom Donald Young Starting to Live Up to Hype

Donald Young finally did it. He won his first match on the ATP tour on Sunday beating Amer Delic, 4-6, 6-3, 6-4. Then he nearly shocked the tennis world by narrowly losing to the world's number four ranked player Nickolay Davydenko 2-6, 6-4, 7-5 in the second round at the Pilot Pen Classic.

It hasn't been an easy road for Young. After a much heralded junior career that included junior championships at Wimbledon and the Australian Open, Young chose to turn pro in 2006 after being offered a significant endorsement deal from Nike. Unfortunately for Young his transition into professional tennis has been anything but smooth. He lost his first 11 matches without giving any of his opponents much trouble.

The criticisms of Young's game began to surface. His game was based on finesse, which worked well on the junior circuit, but was obviously not effective at the professional level where power is king. Many people in the tennis world started to voice concerns that Young's junior success would never translate onto the ATP tour.

Young's confidence waned, but he was undeterred. He committed himself on the Challenger circuit, which is the minor league of the ATP tour. Donald improved the pace of his serve and the power of his forehand. He stayed away from ATP competition until he won his first Challenger tournament earlier this year in Aptos, California.

After winning his match on Monday at Pilot Pen against Delic, he advanced to play the number four player in the world Nickolay Davydenko in the second round. Davydenko has been no stranger to the news lately. He has been the center of a betting scandal that along with NBA referee Tim Donaghy, has helped to bring the issue of sports gambling to the forefront of the mainstream media.

Shortly into his second round match it was clear that Young was not going to be intimidated by Davydenko even though Young entered the match as a huge underdog. He kept the match close down 3-2 to Davydenko early on. Then Davydenko cruised to take the first set 6-2.