Donald Young's Shocking Win over Gilles Simon Won't Lead to US Open 2015 Run
Gianni Verschueren@ReverschPass
Featured ColumnistSeptember 1, 2015
Donald Young's comeback win over Gilles Simon during the first round of the 2015 U.S. Open on Tuesday was one of the greatest matches of the tournament so far, but it won't lead to a deep Cinderella run through the bracket.
Down two sets and a break, the 26-year-old local favourite produced a stunning comeback that had fans buzzing and social media going wild. He and the local fans celebrated wildly after the final point, and ESPN Tennis struggled to contain their excitement:
The 2-6, 4-6, 6-4, 6-4, 6-4 win was as improbable as they come. Young, who lost nine straight tour-level matches between March and August, had never come back from a two-set deficit before, and even he thought his U.S. Open was over after the first two sets, per the Associated Press (for Fox Sports): “I was almost ready to go home there. I had nothing to lose. He was kicking my butt.”
Simon had never lost to Young before, having played the American five times. The Frenchman had never lost in the first round of the U.S. Open before. For all intents and purposes, Tuesday's match shouldn't have played out the way it did, or as sports writer Ricky Dimon put it:
Sports fans live for these kind of stories, and rightly so. Tueday's match was a roller-coaster ride between Simon, a highly ranked player with plenty of titles under his belt, and Young, a former prodigy from Chicago who has faced more lows than highs during a career that never lived up to its potential.
On Tuesday, none of that mattered, and the latter's fight for U.S. Open survival was inspiring to watch. Even greats from other sports weighed in on what they were seeing, a testament to just how great his performance was:
It took Young over three hours to grab the win, and a brief look at his stats shows that it was heart and determination that drove him to victory, rather than talent. Per the event's official website, he had over three times as many double faults as aces (11 to three), hit 70 unforced errors to Simon's 45 and only managed 47 winners.
Young didn't play well, but carried by the crowd on Court 17, he did enough to make it out of the first round. Now, with the fans firmly on his side and ready to root him on in Round 2, he prepares for a match against Aljaz Bedene.
The Slovenian-born Brit and Young have met once before, a match Bedene won, and the 26-year-old recorded a shock win of his own against Ernests Gulbis in Round 1. Having dropped the first set, he came back to win the second 6-4 and was leading 3-0 in the third when Gulbis retired.
On paper, the draw couldn't have been any better for either player, and with the top-seeded player and favourite to make it to the third round in their part of the bracket being Kevin Anderson, the road to the fourth round seems wide open.
For Young, that would tie his best-ever result at a Grand Slap, having achieved the same result at Flushing Meadows in 2011, back when fans still hoped he could be the next great American tennis player.
He may very well make it there again in 2015, but his run won't go much further if he gets past Bedene to begin with. As the Daily Mail's Mike Dickson suggests, Young had to dig very deep to get past Simon, unlike his next opponent:
Young has had a tendency to play up to his competition in 2015, perhaps best illustrated when he made life tough on Andy Murray in a Davis Cup match in March before starting his losing streak that carried into August.
He looked physically spent after his win over Simon, drained of all energy, and that will carry over into the next round. Add to that the pressure he faces now that the crowd at Flushing Meadows knows who he is and has its hopes pinned on him, and the situation becomes even more dire.
Young has never been good under pressure, something the public learned when in 2012, the year that was supposed to be his breakout season after the strong showing at the U.S. Open, he went on an incredible 17-match losing streak, via ESPN.
That streak was the first―but not the last―of his career and started the downward spiral that led us to today, where Young, now virtually unknown to the public, made headlines for recording an upset win over a player who has never gone beyond the quarterfinals at a Grand Slam.
Perhaps he can exercise those demons in 2015, embarking on a Cinderella run that will inspire fans all over the world. History suggests he won't, however, and fans should remember that when he faces Bedene in Round 2.