The Tale of Two

Written by: Staff on 18th January 2011

The Tale of Two

Donald Young (USA) |

In the absence of any real drama in the opening round of the Australian Open (and may the person who came up with the idea of 32 seeds be forced to watch endless replays of Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez – to name but a few – against Greta Arn), the first grand slam of the year offered, instead, a couple of lessons for any young hopefuls wanting to take up the sport.

First up was a brief exhibition of how not to do it, how not to bring up a young lad in the ways of professional sport. It starred two of the great young hopes of their generations: Donald Young of the United States and Bernard Tomic of Australia.

Both young men come from great tennis playing nations, countries with a long history of grand slam success but with a dearth of new talent coming up through the ranks. When both men won the Australian Open junior title at the age of 15 – Young in 2005 and Tomic in 2008 – they were leapt upon by sponsors, promoters and tennis associations alike: here were champions in the making and we all want a part of them. And just to make life a little more complicated, both men had very protective families. This was a recipe for disaster is ever there was one.

Young was showered with wild cards into professional tournaments despite the fact that everywhere he went, he got a grown-up clumping in the first round. The longer it went on, the more dejected he looked and even those hard-nosed pros who were giving him a hiding seemed sorry for the poor chap. When Dame Timothy Henry Henman took his turn to kick Young into touch at the Indian Wells Masters in 2006, he sounded seriously concerned for Young’s wellbeing.

“I think he can be a good player, definitely,” Dame T said then. “I’d just like to understand his strategy of what he’s schedule is going to be. It’s all good experience, you could say. But he needs to go and learn his trade and learn how to win. You know, maybe play two tournaments at this level, maybe this and US Open.

“Winning is a habit but losing becomes a habit. Instead of him coming here and feeling no pressure and thinking that ‘this is just great, I’m going to have so much fun’, I wouldn’t be surprised if he comes here now thinking ‘well, I’ve had any number of wild cards and I haven’t won yet.’ It’s a momentum going in the wrong direction.”

At that time, Young had already been a professional for two years. Today, another five years down the line, Young is 21 and ranked 129 in the world. The great hope of American tennis trudges around the Challenger circuit to no particular end and on Day Two of the Open, he took a 6-3, 6-2, 6-1 thrashing from Marin Cilic. It was not pretty but it was only to be expected. Cilic, a former French Open junior champion was too big, too strong and too good for the slight, if talented, Young. By the time it was over, Young had had enough and, stalking off court, he said a few choice – and extremely rude – words to his entourage. He may be making a decent living – and he may be making a decent living for certain members of that entourage, too – but Young looks to be a very confused and unhappy man.

Tomic is three years younger than the American (and about five inches taller, which makes a good deal of difference) but he seems to be in serious danger of following exactly the same path.

Last year young Bernie committed the ultimate Aussie sin: he whinged. Losing to Cilic in five sets in the second round here (big Marin gets around a bit) and finishing at long past midnight, he complained that the match had been scheduled too late for him – it was way past his bedtime and that is why he lost. He was 17-years-old at the time and had been given a wild card to the Open as a big pat on the head for showing a bit of promise with a racquet and ball. Most of Australia went nuts and called him up hill and down dale for being such a bad loser and such a cry baby.

This year, he came back to Melbourne Park with a slightly different perspective. He won his opening round with the greatest of ease, clobbering Jeremy Chardy 6-3, 6-2, 7-6, and then smiled and announced that he did not care what court he was put on for the second round, nor what time his match was scheduled. Someone had clearly given Bernie a serious talking to and he was minding his Ps and Qs.

Tomic has considerably more about him than Young. The American may have more natural talent but Tomic, now touching 6ft 5ins, is bigger and stronger and hitting the ball big and hitting it cleanly, he has the weapons to make progress in today’s muscular game.

Even so, Tomic is still a bit too big for his boots. He pulled out of Tennis Australia’s wild card play-off claiming that he was too sick to play, and yet the very next day he was spotted practising back at home on the Gold Coast. Again, Australia’s tennis followers went bonkers and there were calls for Tomic to be excluded from the Open. Tennis Australia’s response was to give Tomic a wild card anyway – this boy could make it and he could save TA’s bacon so he gets what he wants. It does not bode well for the future.

Meanwhile, Messrs Nadal and Murray were showing the world what the results of a good tennis upbringing looked like. Both men were tipped for greatness when they were kids but both went their own way, training where they felt comfortable (for Nadal, it was at home in Majorca while for Murray it was at the Sanchez-Casals Academy in Barcelona) and then launching themselves onto the professional circuit when they felt ready. And both men had supportive families who let their sons make their own decisions and learn their own lessons.

Nadal followed his Uncle Toni’s advice to the letter and grew up to become a polite, unassuming assassin – an absolute killer on the court and a diligent worker off it. Murray took one look at the opposition in front of him and then worked himself to a standstill to become one of the fittest men on the tour. With the confidence of knowing that no man could outlast him, he let his natural talent take him to two grand slam finals and No.2 in the rankings last year.

Both Murray and Nadal breezed into the second round of the Open when their opponents retired injured. Nadal barely broke a sweat against Marcos Daniel who lasted just 11 games before pulling out with a knee injury at 6-0, 5-0 down. Murray was happily battering Karol Beck and was 6-3, 6-1, 4-2 to the good when the Slovak called it a day due to a shoulder injury.

So, the world’s No.1 and No.5 live to fight another day and to show the world once again exactly how you produce a tennis champion.

Topics: Bernard Tomic, Donald Young