"you're only as good as your second serve"

"you're only as good as your second serve" ,tends to be very true in tennis today. Furthermore keeping up with all the top guns in the ATP you have to consistently hit quality shots or keep the ball in play to win points. From what I've seen,some of us fails to due any of this on a daily basis.

Young lashes out at USTA for perceived snub in profane Tweet

By Chris Chase

Donald Young is the eighth-ranked player in the United States and No. 95 worldwide. He's 2-11 all time in Grand Slams and has a 16-48 career record in ATP matches. Because of this mediocre resume, the 21-year-old former "can't miss kid" evidently thinks he's entitled to special treatment by the USTA.

The Chicago native tweeted an angry message over the weekend at the USTA after tennis' governing body in America failed to award him a wild card into the French Open:



According to Tennis.com's Matt Cronin, Young's team requested the wild card after Young won the Tallahassee Challenger last week. The USTA, which already had a six-man wild-card playoff set up later in the week, denied the request. Young would go on to lose in the final of that event and then filed his profane tweet.

He later took down his Twitter account and apologized for his language, but not his sentiment.

Young's low standing in American tennis makes his expectations of special treatment delusional, at best. It's like if I went into Carol Bartz's office and demanded stock options or if one of the extras from "Avatar" petitioned James Cameron for a leading role in the sequel. Young had a great junior career, winning the Australian Open junior event in 2005, but it hasn't translated into the pros.

Incidents like this make it easy to understand why. Why would the USTA cancel a planned tournament with five other people just because Donald Young won a challenger event? He's a bigger name than Robert Kendrick and Michael Russell, but a quick glance of the rankings shows both those guys are ahead of Young.

If you want in to Roland Garros, work your way into the tournament. And if you're not good enough to do that, then the only person you should be complaining to is yourself.

I think the USTA has invested enough in Donald Young that they need to stick with him. He is having somewhat of a breakthrough in the last year or so (having beaten several top 20 players). I agree that people can't expect him to come through with big results if he is not given every single opportunity to do so. I hope someone gets hurt so he has a shot personally.

Why not talk about Ryan Harrison, or Jack Sock or somebody who still has a chance to be good instead of someone who obviously will never be a top 50 player. He had his chance for how many years and he still got shot at the playoff spot! I will cheer for him to lose every match now!!

What those not in the loop don't realize is this "kid" is now a young man who is on the rise. He truly has phenomenal talent that can take him to number one in the world in my opinion. Yes, it is right that so much hype so early and free passes into big tournaments has probably made him spoiled. With that being said, he did get to the top 100 in the world at 17/18 which is similar the early rise in the rankings of Rafael Nadal, the current number 1. He was up a set on Novak Djokovic (current number 2) off one of those wildcards to the US Open a few years back. Now.....this year he qualified for the Australian Open, beat the current number 4 and Australian finalist Andy Murray, and just won a Challenger to take him back into the top 100. Looks like he might just make those who wrote him off put their foot in their mouths. By the way, great to see Mardy Fish crack the top ten. In my opinion, he was always the best player of that generation. GO USA TENNIS!

I agree with previous post comments, enough with the wild card entries for undeserving players. If they cannot make it though qualifying rounds, then they do NOT need to be playing in these tournaments. Young has had more than his fair share of chances. He also needs to quit whining and complaining. It not only makes him look bad, but it reflects poorly on America's tennis players.

Donald Young is sorry about anti-USTA Twitter rant
By EDDIE PELLS

American tennis player Donald Young has apologized to the U.S. Tennis Association, saying he is sorry for the obscenity-laced message he posted on Twitter criticizing the American tennis federation.

Last week, Young sent out the expletive-filled tweet, saying he was sick of the treatment he received from the USTA, after losing in the final of a tournament that awarded the organization’s wild-card entry into the French Open.

On Tuesday, the 21-year-old player made amends with several of his coaches and contacts at the USTA, including Patrick McEnroe, the head of player development, who said in a pointed interview on Monday that Young needed to apologize for the relationship to continue.

“Basically, I want to just apologize for what I said and the way I said it,” Young said in an interview with The Associated Press. “It wasn’t the right way to say it, at all. I appreciate the USTA’s support over the years. It helped me out a lot. I’m ready to turn the page. I’m proud to be an American player. I need the USTA’s help to keep going further in my career.”

Young said McEnroe accepted his apology.

“He wants nothing but the best for me. He wants me to do well,” Young said.

Young, who defeated second-ranked Andy Murray at Indian Wells last month, recently won a lower-level tournament in Tallahassee, Florida that vaulted him into the top 100—the cutoff for automatic entry into the French.

But his ranking—currently at No. 95—didn’t rise until a week after the cutoff date for Roland Garros. That forced him to play in the wild-card tournament in Florida.

The USTA receives a wild-card entry for the men’s and women’s draws at the French and can distribute them however it pleases. Young said his frustration grew out of “a miscommunication of what I thought and what they thought” would happen with the wild card.

“It’s their wild card, and they can choose to do what they want with it,” he said. “It’s their procedure. I should’ve won the tournament. It’s the way they choose to do it. I have to respect that.”

Young, who won his opening round at a lower-level tournament in Florida on Tuesday, said he plans to play in French Open qualifying the week before the main draw starts at Roland Garros.

He said he’ll continue being coached by his parents, while also accepting USTA help, which he has received, on and off, since 2005.

Shortly after his expletive-filled tweet, Young posted a milder follow-up, saying he was sorry for his language but not for the intent behind the post. A bit after that, he shut down his Twitter account for good. He said he has no plans of delving back into the world of social media.

“I think I’m done with that,” he said. “It’s brought me nothing but trouble thus far. I was good without it and before it, and I don’t need to know what everyone’s doing every 15 minutes.”