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U.S. OPEN

August 27, 2007

Donald Young

NEW YORK CITY, NEW YORK

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. You're serving 5-3 second set and you spray two forehands. What do you tell yourself then that pulls it together?
DONALD YOUNG: I don't know. Just don't miss. I was pretty nervous those first two points, pretty tight. I just wanted to get first serves in, try to make him earn the point, not just give them away free like I did the first two.

Q. How does it feel?
DONALD YOUNG: It's awesome. It feels great to have won the match. Definitely my first five-set match I've won. My first one at the Open out of the three tries. It was great.

Q. Was there a point when you were kind of counting to yourself and also wondering along with other people, Am I ever going to win a match?
DONALD YOUNG: Yeah, obviously that goes through your mind when you lose 11 in a row. But, I mean, I felt like when I got over for sure I would definitely win at least one in there.
I knew would get one. Sooner or later you don't play like all the top players, you get to play some of the lower-ranked players also. But lower is not really low, but lower than top 10.

Q. What keeps you going during that stretch?
DONALD YOUNG: I love playing tennis. I love winning. I want to win. Just want to taste it and just keep winning.
You know, I wanted to win at this level and I was determined to do it.

Q. Some people wondered why you were playing some of the junior events. You had a good result at Wimbledon. Has that helped build your confidence coming into this part of the season?
DONALD YOUNG: Definitely. I mean, winning breeds winning. When you win matches at any level it helps you win at the other level. But it was also just to go in there and beat your peers, handle the pressure.
Because when you play out here there's not that much pressure because I'm like 200 in the world and everybody's top 100. I'm not supposed to win. But in the juniors I believe I'm supposed to win, so it's a different pressure.

Q. It seems like you're more comfortable in yourself. Is anything you can pinpoint that's given you that feeling the last few months?
DONALD YOUNG: Well, last week helped a lot at this level. But winning the challenger in Aptos, the first Future in April, winning the first tournament. Yeah, it gave me a lost of confidence I can actually play at this level and hang with some of these guys.

Q. Tonight Venus and Serena are going to be out there to honor Althea Gibson. Were Serena and Venus role models for you? If so, how?
DONALD YOUNG: For African American tennis, definitely. But they're women and I play like the men's. But, yeah, for sure, definitely for tennis and everything, they've been awesome. Without them I don't think that many people would want to play.
Everybody wants to play. When someone talks about it, they say Venus or Serena, they want to be like them. That's what they say. That's what everybody strives for. They've won slams. Awesome.

Q. Can you remember the first time you saw them one of them play, what your reaction was?
DONALD YOUNG: I was excited to see one of them play. It has been a while since an African American played. They're awesome players. They're not just African American, but American players, too. Just overall they're great.

Q. How old were you the first time you saw them?
DONALD YOUNG: I can't remember. They've been out there a while. Before I was a teenager, for sure. I mean, 9, 10.

Q. Obviously Althea Gibson played a long time ago. Are you pleased she's going to be honored tonight? Do you know anything about her?
DONALD YOUNG: Most definitely I'm pleased. I actually did a biography about her when I was in sixth grade. Yeah, I mean, I know a lot. I can't remember it all now, but at the time I was really into it.
But, yeah, definitely for her to be honored tonight is great.

Q. Do you know what you got on the biography?
DONALD YOUNG: I want to say it was an A. I don't really remember, but I would like to say it's an A (smiling).

Q. You're already a young guy who has had a lot of expectations and answered a lot of questions, but can you imagine what it would be like to be Andy Murray and be the only guy after Tim Henman retires to be a young hope in your country?
DONALD YOUNG: Not really. In '05 they asked me that question at Wimbledon, and I was like, No, because I don't have a hill. There's not a Murray Hill. I don't have a Donald Hill. But, no, I mean, he's a great player. That's a lot of pressure. The whole country riding on Tim and him.
In the U.S. we have other players like Andy, James, Sam, Isner. We have a lot of great players.

Q. Speaking of that, that week you spent with them at Davis Cup came right before your first tournament. Looking back, was that a crucial time for you to spend time with those guys and have them give you confidence?
DONALD YOUNG: It was great to be out there with those guys, hit that kind of ball every day, because you don't get that. I mean, where else are you going to hit with someone 4 or 5 in the world? It was great. They took me in, hazed me some, but it was awesome.

Q. The crowd that was out there today, have you ever had anything like that before? What was that like for you?
DONALD YOUNG: Last week actually I played -- Nikolay was somewhat like that. I've never had it here. They really helped me through the match. Without them, I don't think I would have won.

Q. When you first started playing pro, what weren't you doing right?
DONALD YOUNG: I just think I wasn't physically -- well, more physically developed. I had the strokes, I had the game, I thought I could play with them, but physically I couldn't last. I was 15. They're like 20, grown men. Yeah, it's different.

Q. This has to be one of your favorite moments in US Open history. Before today, what was your most memorable moment here at the Open?
DONALD YOUNG: For me myself, probably winning the juniors doubles actually with Clayton.

Q. Besides that?
DONALD YOUNG: Probably Sampras-Agassi final. That was awesome for Pete to go out like that. It was great.

Q. Could you talk more about the Wimbledon final, what it meant.
DONALD YOUNG: Wimbledon, it was a dream Grand Slam. To win any Slam is always it's important, especially at Wimbledon. Coming there, my first juniors tournament this year in a while. It just meant a lot to me. It was a confidence booster. Took my junior ranking up from 90 to 7.
It was just awesome to be out there and win, beat the No. 1 seed, the guy won the French Open. To everybody else he was the better player out there, and I was happy to beat him.

Q. Walking on the court today, did you have a different feel, a different confidence because of New Haven? Was it different than any of your other two US Opens?
DONALD YOUNG: Yeah, it was definitely different. I won my first match. I wasn't O for anything. I had a win. It was a big confidence booster. I was playing someone who wasn't top 10 in the world and I felt I had a little chance again.

Q. Talk about your mental approach on court. Even sometimes when it seems like you're playing well, you don't necessarily look happy. Are you pretty hard on yourself?
DONALD YOUNG: Yeah, like a perfectionist, but no one can be perfect. I don't like to miss anything, but that's not the way it goes.
Yeah, I'm happy, but maybe not showing it, because I don't want to show it too early and end up losing.

Q. If I'm not mistaken, it was your father who coached you throughout the years. Can you talk about his influence on your life?
DONALD YOUNG: Yeah, my dad and mom, they've been my coaches my whole life. Without them, I wouldn't be playing because I wouldn't even know what a tennis racquet was. So, I mean, I credit everything, my tennis, to them.

Q. You are going to play Richard Gasquet next round. Any thought about it?
DONALD YOUNG: Another great player. I'm going to go out there and do well, hope to get a little lucky.

Q. You came close with Davydenko last week. Do you feel like you are ready to do something that people might not expect you to be capable of at this point?
DONALD YOUNG: I feel a little better, closer to being ready, but not all the way. I'm just trying to go one match, one point at a time, just keep getting better.

Q. Have you played your last junior event?
DONALD YOUNG: No, actually I'm signed up for the junior US Open next week, yeah. So we'll see.

Q. Not too many left-handers anymore. There hasn't been a left-handed champion here in a while. Any thoughts on why that is?
DONALD YOUNG: Now there's starting to be a lot of lefties. I played another lefty. Most people are righties. That's all I can really say. Most people are righties.

Q. Can you talk about your experience with John McEnroe?
DONALD YOUNG: Yeah, I met him when I was about 9, 10 years old, Nuveen Championships. I was a ball boy actually. Me and my friend asked to hit with him. He said yeah. He liked the way we played. He invited us back every day to warm up for his match. That's how it started.

Q. In the fourth set, somebody in the crowd was bothering you, something in the crowd?
DONALD YOUNG: No, it's just something me and my dad have. We always talk to each other. It's just something we have.

Q. You were talking to your dad?
DONALD YOUNG: Yeah, yeah. I mean, something to vent on. It wasn't anything big.

Q. When you see Nadal hit his forehand like he does, do you think you'll be able to do that someday?
DONALD YOUNG: Hopefully. I mean, I think most people would want to hit their forehand like him. But it's a tough forehand to emulate. I'm trying to just work and do mine. To come out and be even closer, I would be happy.

Q. Will a power game end up being important to you or do you think being quick, having touch is more important?
DONALD YOUNG: You have to be able to put the ball away sometimes. But it throws people off when you can slice, dropshot, get to a lot of balls, just make 'em play. But you have to be able to put the ball away also.

Q. If I remember right, against Davydenko, you were serving 4-2 in the third. What was going through your head at that point?
DONALD YOUNG: I was actually thinking about what I was going to do when I won the match. I think that's what hurt me.
I don't know. I was a little nervous, just wanted to keep the ball in play. Doing that, it didn't go over the net, so I got broken.

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