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U.S. OPEN

September 8, 2011

Donald Young

NEW YORK CITY, NEW YORK

A. MURRAY/D. Young
6-2, 6-3, 6-3

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. Tough luck, Donald. You look pretty bummed out by how it went.
DONALD YOUNG: Yeah, yeah. Yeah, I wasn't the happiest obviously when I lost. It's not just losing the way I lost. I felt I didn't put my best foot forward and play the way I've been playing the whole time.
But, you know, it's been a good tournament.

Q. Did two days, pretty much almost two full days of delay other than that little period you played, were they a momentum killer given what you did earlier in the tournament, how you were feeling, what you were thinking?
DONALD YOUNG: Yeah, it was different for me. You know, I haven't had to do that, especially at this level of a tournament, this deep in a tournament.
Yeah, probably, you know, to get up every day, getting ready to play and not playing, it's kind of emotionally draining. Not so much physically. You're still waking up early.
But, yeah, I mean, for me it probably bothered me quite a bit.

Q. Obviously you have just come off the court and you're disappointed. But do you think with the success that you did have here you'll leave this tournament as a different player?
DONALD YOUNG: All in all, yeah, I think so. You know, right now I'm kind of thinking about the match and not focusing on the other matches. Those happened some days ago.
But, yeah, definitely it's given me a lot of confidence. I'll leave more confident and a better player for it.

Q. Of all the firsts that you had in this tournament, what stands out for you?
DONALD YOUNG: Um, winning my first-ever five-set match in a tiebreak in the fifth, and also coming back a couple days later and solidifying a win in the next match relatively - or convincing, not easy - in three sets. So that was pretty big for me.

Q. How do you think you'll look back on the year you've had so far and the tournament you've had here?
DONALD YOUNG: By far it's the best year I have ever had on tour, so I can say that.
The tournament I have had here, the slam is the best tournament I've ever had. You know, yeah, I guess I could say those two things.

Q. What do you think is the reason for all of this?
DONALD YOUNG: You know, confidence. I have won matches this year against I feel high-quality players. You know, when you beat those guys and you win another match and a couple in a row, it makes you feel like you can really do it and be out there with the guys.
I think that's what's happened.

Q. You played a quality player today. Andy has been picked by many as a pretournament favorite. You know, with the unforced errors and so forth maybe you didn't give him the game that you would have liked to have given him, but talk about Andy and the way he played you today.
DONALD YOUNG: Yeah, you know, he's a great player. Obviously his name speaks for himself and his results precede him.
You know, he did what he needed to do today. He came out there and played solid the way that I've seen him always play, you know. Didn't miss much, didn't give you much, made you feel under pressure pretty much the whole time.
I didn't execute, and if you don't execute against a player of that caliber, you're going to lose pretty bad.

Q. Talk about how much you relish the opportunity to play top players in the world when you have those opportunities, and how disappointing it might be that you weren't able to give him your A Game today.
DONALD YOUNG: I don't know if I relish the opportunity, because I would rather, you know, play someone not as good and beat them. (Laughter.)
But, you know, it's great to say you've been on the court. You know, when I was younger that was great to be on the court with the top, best guys. Now you want to go out there and try to beat them and win. You don't want to just go out and play and hit some balls with 'em, because if that's the case, you could practice with 'em before the tournament.
Yeah, just, like I said, disappointed I didn't play the way I really wanted to get to play.

Q. You turned pro at 14.
DONALD YOUNG: Yeah, 2004. Well, at the time I were beating people that were 18, 19, a lot older than me at the time. They were quite older.
I think I finished that year top 10 in the world in juniors, and the next year I won.

Q. What's different in your feeling about your future today than maybe at the start of the tournament, if at all?
DONALD YOUNG: Nothing's different. I feel like I could do it. I feel I have had some few good results this year and that gave me confidence. This just helped me really realize I could do it at the big stage and actually beat some guys consecutively in a row at a big tournament and with some pressure on me.
That definitely helped my confidence.

Q. What do you do now? Do you take advantage of the direct entry into all the tournaments you can? Do you go back and work a little more?
DONALD YOUNG: Yeah, I don't know. I have three weeks off and then Asia is the next swing; I'm gonna definitely play that, and then maybe Europe after that.
I'm just gonna play -- then it's the offseason. There's not that many tournaments left. I don't think there is a need to really pull back. It's not like I've played a lot and gone deep in a bunch of tournaments to be tired.

Q. Do you think the court was playable yesterday when they put you out there, and shouldn't you have been in the player meeting with the players yesterday?
DONALD YOUNG: Well, to be honest, I didn't really know about the meeting when they went in there. My locker is way in the back; they're kind of closer to the front. So I didn't see it.
And the court, it was misting pretty much the whole time when we went out there. It was kind of dry, but in the back it was quite wet.
They told us it was time to play, and I don't think I'm the person to be, I don't want did to go out there, because they might default me. (Laughter.)
But other than that, yeah, I think the players were just worried about their safety, not so much, you know, whatever it was.

Q. Do you think there was a safety issue yesterday when you were out there?
DONALD YOUNG: If the players felt so, yeah. I mean, it was, you know, it was misting the whole time and the lines get slick quite fast. It's not clay; they do get slick quite easily. It's the part of the court that gets wet the quickest. If it's misting the whole time, it's not gonna dry.

Q. What part of your game do you still have to work on?
DONALD YOUNG: All of it. There's nothing I don't have to work on. Everything I do can get a lot better. I'll just leave it pretty broad: all of it.

Q. After two days off waiting and starting and stopping, how difficult is it today to recalibrate yourself before you go out there?
DONALD YOUNG: For me, it was quite hard. Like I said, emotionally getting up every day, you know, in theory it sounds easy, like you should be able to do it. It's the round of 16 of the Open. I was excited to play.
But, you know, just for whatever reason today I wasn't able to give my best.

Q. What do you think should have been done differently, if anything, in the handling of the rain and the court situation?
DONALD YOUNG: Ah, you know, I think they made the decision the best they could. I think, you know, they had everybody's interests at hand when they did it. The fans, the tournament, and the players.
So I think they did it the first day and it didn't work out, and they didn't send anybody else out there anymore, even the couple times it looked to kind of get dry.

Q. Some players go out on tour, and maybe they just travel with the coach or a small entourage. Some people are tighter with their family. Obviously it's a big thing for you. Talk a little bit about that family bond and what that means to you.
DONALD YOUNG: Yeah, family is very important to me. That's how I was kind of raised and brought up. I enjoy being at home with my parents and family, period. And friends.
Yeah, they started me and I appreciate that. They've been everything for me. When I was doing bad, they were there. When I was doing good, they were there. Unlike a lot of other people. But we won't say.
But, you know, they've just done everything for my tennis. You know, like I said, I'm not not interested in adding someone to the team, but they've been there, and they're there to stay, for sure.

Q. Do you remember when you first started playing tennis?
DONALD YOUNG: Yeah. I started playing tennis when I was three years old, actually.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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