Donald Young
Sport: Tennis
Nation: United States of America
DOB: July 23, 1989
Hometown: Atlanta, GA
Career Highlights: Blessed with prodigious talent, Young has shown flashes of harnessing his immense potential. He was ranked No. 1 as a junior
after drawing praise at age 10 from none other than John McEnroe and profiled in New York Times Magazine at 18. However, his
career started off rocky, with a string of blowout losses resulting in criticism of how his family handled him and his career
at a young age. Young has played on some form of professional circuit since he was 15, and struggled in numerous lower-tier
events. He got into a notable spat last year when he criticized the USTA on Twitter for not awarding him a wild card into
the French Open. After that, though, Young went on a run playing his best tennis. The left-hander stunned the world by reaching
the fourth round of the U.S. Open, upsetting No. 14 seed Stanislas Wawrinka in a five-set match in the second round. Young
also reached his first ATP final in Thailand last year, losing to Britain’s Andy Murray. He reached a career-high ranking
of No. 38 this February, but has gone 2-15 in his first 15 tournaments of 2012 with 12 straight first-round exits. At the
London Games, Young will be returning to Wimbledon, where he won the junior event in 2007.
Olympic History: None