Tennis Waiting For Former Prodigy Young To Fulfill Promise
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One-Time Prodigy Young
Currently Ranked 335th In World |
With Wimbledon beginning today, U.S. tennis player Donald Young is profiled in N.Y. TIMES MAGAZINE by Paul Wachter, who notes that at the age of 15, Young was “saddled with the expectations of returning American men’s tennis to the heights” of Pete Sampras and Andre Agassi; Young, 17, is currently ranked No. 335 in the world. Wachter wonders, “Was IMG pushing Young too hard, using its muscle to get wild-card entries into top events that his ranking ... wouldn’t otherwise qualify him to enter?” Donald Young Sr. indicated that the "decision to play the big tournaments was in large part a financial" one and that the family "wasn't pushed by IMG." But Young Sr. added that he “wasn’t very happy with the company or Young’s agent, Gary Swain,” as neither had done "enough to market his son, beginning with a missed opportunity when Young became the world’s top junior.” Young Sr.: “Why couldn’t he have had ... a two-dollar popsicle deal [or] a two-dollar bubblegum deal?” Neither the Young family nor Swain would discuss the amount of Young’s endorsements, but his Nike deal – his largest – “is reported to be significantly smaller than the $2[M] deal the company is said to have given [No. 62-ranked] Gael Monfils.” But Young Sr. said that his son is “already making more than most recent college graduates.” Young Sr. said, “They’re lucky if they get thirty, forty thousand. [Donald is] doing that already” (N.Y. TIMES MAGAZINE, 6/24 issue).
SERVES AND VOLLEYS: WTAer Shahar Peer was profiled by the FINANCIAL TIMES’ Charles Morris, who wrote she “is set to shake up women’s tennis.” Peer is the “best female player that Israel has produced,” and as a result tennis “has become a leading sport in the country” (FINANCIAL TIMES, 6/22)....ATPer Tommy Robredo posed nude for the July issue of the British edition of Cosmopolitan, “covered by a racket,” to raise money for cancer research (N.Y. TIMES, 6/24).
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