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Bjorn Fratangelo and Donald Young to kick off US Open Wild Cards

They’re playing the Wild Card Playoffs at a place named the Junior Tennis Champions Center for a reason. The USTA markets the Wild card Playoffs by stating that fans can “see the future of American Tennis”.  Which future? The future of a few years ago, now the present, or the future from today? Bjorn Fratangelo, 2011 Roland…

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They’re playing the Wild Card Playoffs at a place named the Junior Tennis Champions Center for a reason. The USTA markets the Wild card Playoffs by stating that fans can “see the future of American Tennis”.  Which future? The future of a few years ago, now the present, or the future from today?

The Future is Now for Donald Young

Bjorn Fratangelo, 2011 Roland Garros Junior Champion and seen as a major rising star in men’s tennis, will face another former junior champion, Donald Young, in the opening match of the US Open Wild Card Playoffs on Thursday afternoon in College Park.

The 22-year-old Young was a 2006 U.S. Junior National Champion, Australian Open and Wimbledon Junior Champion. He was picked by many to be the future of American tennis. To everyone’s surprise, he’s still fighting his way into main draws the hard way. His run to the Semifinals at Legg Mason Tennis Classic gives us reason to hope that Young’s projected promise may finally pay off as an adult.

The Wild Cards are played at a place named the Junior Tennis Champions Center for a reason

Pittsburgh’s Fratangelo has learned the hard way, too, and recently. The #3 seed at Kalamazoo last week, he was upset by Gaithersburg’s Junior Ore at the Hard Court Championships.

One response to “Bjorn Fratangelo and Donald Young to kick off US Open Wild Cards”

  1. fryes Avatar
    fryes

    Who’s to blame?John McEnroe. The biggest caertor, because of his stature as great champion and “voice”, of hype in tennis today.According to JMac, Raja is the GOAT, Justine is the best player on the ATP by far, the Djoke is the Next Big Thing, and Donald Young was going to be like hi when he got older.But, as per usual, the context of Donald Young was overlooked. Hype is tough enough to live up to as it is, but add in Young’s race, and you’ve got a whole other ball game.Race as excuse? Hell no. Race as context? Absolutely. When you have a young boy having to deal with blatant racism in his junior events on most of the entire circuit (no Black junior should ever be ranked so high, you see – one of the reasons why I’m sure Richard didn’t allow his daughters to play on the “freak show” called the ITF) a complex can settle in the far reaches of the mind so intense it may never be exorcised.Admittedly, I didn’t read enough of the article to know if the author addresses anything remotely close to this observation, but if he doesn’t, he’s merely scratching the surface and telling too little of the tale.

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