(August 31, 2024) FLUSHING, NY – Donald Young’s career continued for another day on Saturday as he and Taylor Townsend advanced the quarterfinals of the mixed doubles at the US Open with a 7-5, 6-4 win over Nadia Kichenok of the Ukraine and Hugo Nys of Monaco. Last week it was announced that the 35-year-old Young would take a wild card to play mixed doubles with Townsend to end his career at the US Open.
The American team needed to come back from a break down in the second set to close out the match. Tennis Panorama had a chance to speak to the team after the match.
“I felt like we were in control pretty much the whole match, just a couple of errors, here and there and I felt like it was on our racquets though,” said Townsend. “I was really happy, our opponents were serving really well and we really didn’t have many opportunities to break so to be able to get broken then break back gave us confidence to keep it rolling and do it again later in the set. I wasn”t worried. I thought that we were playing well, again I felt like we were in control of it so just couple of points here and there, that’s how doubles goes you know, a couple points here and there, no-ad – male vs. male, female vs female so anything can happen at any given time so it’s nice that it tipped in our favor.”
Young talked about being back at the US Open for one final time: “Yea, it’s different, I’ve been watching it on TV quite a few years, for the past couple of years. It’s nice to be back with the crowd, it just feel so familiar and it’s nice to be playing with a real familiar person so it keeps the nerves down.”
Young was the one to approach Townsend about playing mixed doubles to end his career at the US Open.
“For me it took awhile but it was pretty much an easy decision and when I thought about the person to play with or try to get in with it was obviously going to be Taylor,” noted Young. “I just thought oh man, we had some runs and most of the time we played, I was playing singles and doubles, and I was pretty tired going into it. So, I figured if I could focus on Taylor with her playing so well, I wouldn’t be too heavy, tried to be as light as possible (Townsend started laughing).
“I’m still playing – I practice all the time, matches, it’s different but I’m hitting and playing points and what not and I’ve some UTR’s. It’s different when you are playing 15-0, 30-0 than just hitting balls but I’ve been hitting.”
Asked if it was strange for him to be back at the US Open he said: “Yea, it’s different, I’ve been watching it on TV quite a few years, for the past couple of years. It’s nice to be back with the crowd, it just feel so familiar and it’s nice to be playing with a real familiar person so it keeps the nerves down.”
His personal highlights of his career: “A lot of times have been here, some runs here. Shoot, I never thought I was going to be a pro anyway but to be a pro is awesome. If you told me, the 12-year-old me, everything I would have done here, I’d be very happy to take it every day of the week and it’s just exciting, just being a pro. Living my dream, traveling the world, meeting a ton of people, changing my family’s trajectory is awesome.”
Young is one of a number of former tennis pros who play professional pickleball.
“It’s started already,” he said. “I’ve gotten Taylor out there a couple of times. She actually enjoyed it, she’s a natural. It was just easy for me. It came at a good time, and it was three years guaranteed. It’s different, it’s competitive still, it’s travelling in the states 14, 15 weeks, it was just hard to beat. Initially I thought I could do both but with the schedule it didn’t really turn out that way. It was exciting for a new venture. I think it was just a good opportunity at a good time.
The American team will play for a semifinal spot against the winner of Anna Danilina and Harri Heliovaara vs. Cristina Bucsa and Joran Vliegen.
Related news:
