NEW YORK — Donald Young didn’t cry when his tennis career came to an end on Thursday afternoon in Arthur Ashe Stadium.
Even when a video was played on a screen of some of his best moments from the tournament over the years, and he was given a standing ovation from those in attendance, he simply smiled.
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He had just lost the mixed doubles final at the US Open with his partner Taylor Townsend 7-6 (0), 7-5 to Andrea Vavassori and Sara Errani, and while the result didn’t go their way, it still felt like a perfect ending to this chapter of his life.
“I’ve done my little crying at home thinking about [retirement from tennis],” Young said later. “I’ve gotten emotional. But it was such an exciting moment as well, maybe if we’d have got whooped up first round it would have been a little more emotional, but we made it to the final and we had a chance. It was a few points here or there.
“In that sense I was pretty happy and proud that we were able to go that far or do that well, and it kind of made me feel good about how I was able to go out.”
While most players could only dream about playing their final match as a professional tennis player in a Grand Slam final, the rest of Young’s career hasn’t followed the same fairy-tale script.
Young, now 35, was a teenage prodigy and ranked No. 1 in the world as a junior. He won multiple junior Grand Slam titles and looked poised to be the next great American star. While there were flashes of the brilliance many were expecting — including three top-10 wins — he never was able to live up to the hype and expectations.
He reached two ATP singles finals but didn’t win a title. He made the fourth round at the US Open twice — his best singles result at a major — but had more success in doubles. He made it to the 2017 French Open final with Santiago Gonzalez but lost in three sets. His ranking peaked at No. 38 in 2012.
Taylor Townsend’s runner-up speech had us in our feels. pic.twitter.com/HHM66Njy0f
— US Open Tennis (@usopen) September 5, 2024
Young’s last tour-level victory came in 2021 and he played primarily Challenger level events in 2022 and 2023. Prior to the US Open, he hadn’t played a professional tennis match all year and, like other former tennis players, had turned his attention to pickleball and the PPA Tour. It seemed as if his once-promising tennis career was over with little fanfare or warning.
But it turns out he wasn’t quite done with the sport just yet.
Young thought he owed it to himself to have a formal farewell, and he felt the US Open would be the most fitting place to do it. He asked Townsend, the reigning Wimbledon doubles champion, if she would partner with him for mixed doubles, and she immediately said yes. The two had previously reached the semifinals together at the event in 2014.
“I was like, ‘You’re the reason I believed I could play any sort of pro tennis,’ because he’s the closest I was around to it,” Townsend told WTA Insider ahead of the tournament. “It would be an honor for me to play with you and share the court for you on your retirement.'”
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The two go way back. Townsend, 28, was working with Young’s father, Donald Young Sr., during her early days in the sport. Young’s success, especially during juniors, inspired Townsend and made her believe she could do it too. Like Young, she also eventually became the top-ranked junior player in the world and won the 2012 Australian Open junior title. Young and Townsend still have a big brother-little sister dynamic that is apparent in any of their interviews together. They make fun of one another and joke around with ease.
And despite Young’s absence from tennis, the two needed little time to find their rhythm on the court together as well. Given a wild card for entry from the tournament, Young and Townsend made their way through the draw, even upsetting defending champions Anna Danilina and Harri Heliovaara in the quarterfinals. With each win, the attention grew, and more fans came out to see Young for potentially one last time.
On Thursday afternoon, in front of what Townsend later described as “one of the best crowds” she had ever seen for a mixed doubles final, the duo forced a tiebreak in the opening set and fought back to level the score after trailing 4-1 in the second set. They saved two match points but couldn’t finish the job. When asked what they could have done differently, Young later joked, “Win match point.”
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But for Townsend, as disappointing as the final result was, she still called it a “fairy-tale ending” for Young.
“Ultimately, I just hope that Donald and I standing here today, Frances [Tiafoe] in the semifinals, Coco [Gauff] being a defending champion, just shows people that look like us that it’s possible,” Townsend told the crowd. “And standing here today with Donald means the world to me, because he’s been in my life forever.
“I was able to be close up to him when he was a junior, winning junior Wimbledon, winning junior Australian Open. And being able to come home and to see someone doing this at such a high level, it inspired me, and I honestly don’t know if I’d be here today if it wasn’t for him and his family.”
As for Young, he was already focused on what was next. He told reporters after the match that he would be continuing as a professional pickleball player “for the next two or three years” and had equally ambitious goals for his new sport as he once did for tennis.
“Everything I do I want to be the best I can possibly be at it,” Young said. “To be the best would be awesome. I want to start competing and making it into final weekends on a consistent basis. That’s it.”
