Donald Young help America's next tennis generation avoid mistakes that derailed career

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American men’s tennis is having a moment.

But it could become something more: a movement.

So says Donald Young, who had the honor — and burden — of being the Next Great American Star back when he was just 15 years old.

That never materialized.

Now Young — who is into the mixed doubles semifinals with Taylor Townsend at the U.S. Open after they beat the eighth-seeded team of Aldila Sujiadi and Rohan Bopanna on Tuesday night — is preparing to retire from the sport 20 years later.

Donald Young playing mixed doubles at the U.S. Open on Sept. 2, 2024. Charles Wenzelberg / New York Post

And he sat down with The Post for a wide-ranging interview that covered his career, regrets and advice to the new generation of U.S. men.

Those American men have been on the rise, with five ranked in the Top 20 for the first time since Feb. 24, 1997: No. 12 Taylor Fritz, No. 13 Ben Shelton, No. 14 Tommy Paul, No. 16 Sebastian Korda and No. 20 Frances Tiafoe.

“I’m excited. I’m loving it,” Young, now 35, said. “They have each other. When you have that many guys that are that good, they push each other. It’s a silent competition. You’re happy to see your mate do well, but you want that too, so it pushes you to work hard. It’s great. I’m really excited for them.

“I love Taylor, I love Francis, Tommy. Brandon Nakashima, you have all these guys. You’ve got Shelton. [Chris] Eubanks is doing well. So I’m really happy for these guys. And this is the time. It’s going to be open. These guys can be great forever. … So this is awesome for these guys, and I’m super excited for them.”

Fritz reached his first major semifinal on Tuesday afternoon, beating fourth-seeded Alexander Zverev 7-6 (2), 3-6, 6-4, 7-6 (3).

Frances Tiafoe has advanced to the quarterfinals at the U.S. Open. Larry Marano

Tiafoe was trying to join him Tuesday night in a quarterfinal against No. 9 Grigor Dimitrov. Paul pushed No. 1 Jannik Sinner in a hard-fought loss on Monday night.

It’s the kind of rarefied air that had been predicted for Young from his youth.

The kid from the South Side of Chicago became the youngest-ever, year-end No. 1 in the ITF junior rankings and turned pro in 2004 at 15.

The next year he became the youngest year-end world No. 1 ever in the junior rankings at 16 years, 5 months.

But Young dropped his first nine matches on the ATP Tour without winning a set.

Being rushed too early undercut his vast potential, though he reached a career-best No. 38 in the ATP rankings despite that mistake.

“Maybe just the pressure of it, because leading up to that point, it was all really fun. I was a kid, I was winning, I loved to win, I was playing against my peers,” Young said. “Then I was jumped, put into a place where I was playing 25 year olds, and people my [current] age. And there’s no way that — if I was looking at it in reverse — I was going to let someone 14, 15 beat me.

Ben Shelton is among the group of Americans Donald Young is excited about. Larry Marano

“Hindsight is 20/20, [but] it could’ve been done a lot different. But on the other hand, that means I was doing something exceptional at the time that people thought it was a possibility. … So that’s cool that you started and [can] hopefully help some other people have a better route to go, or way to go about it.”

That’s why Young has tried to drop pearls of wisdom. He’s trained with Fritz in Los Angeles, he’s played doubles with Tiafoe and hosted him at his home.

He even had Eubanks traveling with him when he was 15.

“I was happy to impart whatever knowledge I could. And I’m happy. I love to see [Eubanks] out here playing well and winning. I’m just as excited as he is when he does well,” Young said.

Donald Young, playing with Taylor Townsend, is in the final event of his career. Charles Wenzelberg / New York Post

His sage advice for the next generation: “Keep your head down, keep listening to the people that have really got you there. There are a lot of people who want to sidetrack [you]. You’ve got to stay focused with your head down. There are going to be ups and downs, you’ve got to ride the waves when you have them and just really be a professional. Because one day you’re going to wake up and you’re 30, and you’re going to have regrets if you don’t do it right.

“Do whatever you can, because at the end of the day when you stop you want to [know,] ‘I tried this, I tried that, I did everything I could,’ and you can sleep at night. You know [if] you didn’t work hard. Every athlete knows if he didn’t give 100 percent. That’s the main thing. And they have great people around them. And that’s why you have them, so you don’t have to hit the road bumps they did. It’s like a parent telling you don’t do this, because they’ve gone through it and don’t want you to go through it. Some people learn by consequence, and hopefully they don’t have to learn by consequence. They can take that knowledge and build on it.”

No American man has won a Slam since 2003, the year before Young turned pro.

But he’s convinced this generation will change that. Maybe even in Sunday’s final.

“It’s coming soon. They’re going to break through. It’s too many of them doing well and going deep,” Young said. “At some point you keep knocking on the door, it’s going to open. So, it’s coming. I don’t know when, but hopefully it’s here. But it’s coming.”

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Donald Young help America’s next tennis generation avoid mistakes that derailed career

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