Donald Young had a tough time sleeping last night.
It’s rare for a tennis player to have to go to bed while his match is still unsettled. It’s even more rare to have to do so on his birthday, just two games from elimination at Young’s hometown BB&T Atlanta Open.
The restorative slumber did wonders for Young’s game, as it turns out, coming out with renewed vigor to claw back and beat Ivo Karlovic, 2-6, 7-6, 7-6.
“Yesterday was my birthday,” Young said after the match, “but today kind of was the gift.”
Greeted at midcourt with a balloon and later cupcakes, Young got his celebratory birthday win a day late. But he had to scratch and claw to do so.
The Atlanta native came into the day down 2-6, 5-5, the result of a stodgy performance cut short by rain — a blessing in disguise, in retrospect.
Young came out and quickly forced a second-set tiebreaker, countering his powerful Croatian opponent with keen court awareness and creative guile. Karlovic put up a fight, often blowing his notoriously quick serve past Young. But Young was able to eek out a second-set tiebreaker to force a decisive final set.
Trailing 4-2 in the third set, Young broke serve at the most opportune time. He sealed the break, beating Karlovic with a cross-court shot after the Croatian attempted a drop shot. Young raised his fist to the decidedly favorable fans. With a rejuvenated tone, he was back in the match.
Young said after the match he was “dejected” to have been broken earlier in the set, but kept his focus on somehow finding a break in Karlovic’s serve.
“The opportunity came, and I picked the right spot on a break point and hit a good shot,” Young said. “There we were; we were even again. I knew once that we went to a break. I have won the last three (tiebreakers) we have played. I was feeling pretty confident on the (tiebreaker).”
Young swiftly tied the set on his ensuing serve, and the match — spanning nearly a full 24 hours, from opening serve to ending — came down to who would blink next.
Each held serve through the rest of the match, forcing yet another tiebreak. In the tiebreak, Young once again took charge, grabbing tiebreak win once again, when Karlovic offered two unforced errors in a row to close out the match.
Karlovic slammed his racket against his knee. Young bounced with vigor.
“It is nice to win in Atlanta at home,” Young said. “Home had been a trouble spot for me, but it was great I got the wild card here. I am really appreciative. I am ready to play and work for it. I am glad I got the opportunity, so I am ready to go.”
The road doesn’t get much easier for Young; he advances to take on fourth-seeded Australian Matthew Ebden in round two of the singles bracket — in addition to playing in a doubles match in the early evening.
But when his head hits the pillow Tuesday night, Young will be able to rest just a little easier than he did the night before.
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