Donald Oliver Young Jr. (born July 23, 1989) is an American professional pickleball player with the American PPA Tour and Major League Pickleball, and also a former professional tennis player. Young had a tennis career-high ATP singles ranking of No. 38, achieved on 27 February 2012, and doubles ranking of world No. 43, achieved on 14 August 2017. As a junior he was ranked No. 1 in the world in 2005. His best singles performance was reaching the fourth round of the 2011 US Open, as well as the 2015 US Open. In doubles, he reached the final of the 2017 French Open, partnering Santiago González. In mixed doubles, he reached the final of the 2024 US Open, partnering Taylor Townsend.
Young began playing tennis at age three with mother, Illona, and father, Donald sr., who are both tennis teaching professionals.
In 2001 he came in second to Jesse Levine in the U.S. Clay Court 14 Nationals in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. He was up 5-0 in the third set of the final. Young had lost the first set, won the second, and was leading 5–0 and serving for the match at 40–15. Levine scored 23 consecutive points to defeat Young 7–5.
In 2003, Young won the Orange Bowl 16-under title (defeating Thron), becoming the first American to win that age division title since Jim Courier in 1986.
He turned professional in 2004; he played ATP Tour, Futures and Challenger events. Due to the slow start, his handlers were often criticized for pushing him too fast during the early stages. In 2004, Young reached the Orange Bowl 18-under final (lost to Neilly). He won the Easter Bowl 14s and 18s titles in 2003 and 2004 and was named as Davis Cup practice partner for the quarterfinal tie against Spain in 2007.
Young was, in 2005, ranked the No. 1 junior player in the world. Young was the youngest male to win a Grand Slam event, winning the Australian Open Junior Championships in 2005. Young also won the US Open Junior Doubles Championship with Alex Clayton.
In 2005, he became the youngest year-end world No. 1 in junior rankings ever at 16 years, 5 months (one month younger than Richard Gasquet in 2002). Young won the Australian Open junior title at age 15 to become youngest-ever and first African-American man to be ranked No. 1 in the world. He was also the first American to win the Australian junior title and finish No. 1 since Andy Roddick in 2000. He advanced to the semifinals at Wimbledon and quarterfinals at the US Open in 2005. In doubles, Young won the junior US Open title (with Clayton) and reached the final at the Australian Open (with Thiemo de Bakker). In 2007, he won the Wimbledon junior title and was the first American to win since Scott Humphries in 1994. As number one, Young won the Kalamazoo U.S. Junior Championships in 2006, after Jesse Levine forfeited in the finals due to food poisoning.
In January 2007, he reached the finals of a Futures tournament on the ITF Men's Circuit, as well as winning a Futures title in April. In July 2007, Young won the Junior Wimbledon title, beating top seed Vladimir Ignatik in the final. No American won the championship again until Noah Rubin in 2014. Shortly thereafter, Young won a Challenger tournament, and his ranking rose sharply to No. 221.
His rank rose sharply, from No. 92 to No. 7 on the ITF Junior Circuit (as of July 13, 2007) after he won the Junior Wimbledon Championships. He opted to play only some of the Grand Slam tournaments in 2007 and concentrate on playing professional events. On August 19, 2007, Young won his first ATP Tour level singles match. In the first round of New Haven, he beat fellow American Amer Delic in three sets. In the following round, he lost a tight three-setter to Russian Nikolay Davydenko. Young then received a wildcard into the main US Open draw. On August 27, 2007, Young defeated Australian Chris Guccione in the first round. This was his first career victory in a Grand Slam match. On August 30, Young won his second-round match by default. It was against heavily favored opponent Richard Gasquet, who had fallen ill during the tournament and officially withdrew after morning practice. Young fell in the third round to unseeded Feliciano López in four sets.
Young carried the momentum into the fall, making it to the finals of four Challenger tournaments and posting an overall fall record of 21–7 on the Challenger circuit. This was enough to hoist him into the top 100 on the ATP rankings. He lost in the finals of the JSM Challenger in Champaign, Illinois, at the University of Illinois to Jesse Levine. His talents were recognized by the Association of Tennis Professionals in December 2007, as for Young was one of 11 honored in the 2007 Century Club
In the Australian Open, Young lost in the first round to Michael Berrer in four sets. There were much higher hopes for Young as he made it to the quarterfinals of the tennis tournament in Memphis. Young defeated Sam Warburg and Alejandro Falla in the first and second rounds, respectively, before losing in a tough three-set match to Jonas Björkman. At Indian Wells, Young made it to the third round. He defeated Bobby Reynolds in the first round. Then in the second round, he took out 32nd seed, Feliciano López in three sets. He lost to eventual champion Rafael Nadal in the third round. He lost in the first round of the French Open, then lost a close four-set match in the first round at Wimbledon against Jesse Levine. At the Canadian Open, Young won two preliminary matches to qualify for the tournament, before dropping his first-round match to Gilles Simon. At the Countrywide Classic in Los Angeles, he defeated former world No. 2, Tommy Haas (ranked No. 40 at the time). In the first round of the US Open, Young lost to James Blake in a five-set thriller. He came back from down a break to win the fourth set. Although the final set was tied 4–4, with the help of two key calls overturned on challenges in the last two games, Blake won. Young won the Sacramento Challenger tournament on October 13, 2008.
Young lost to Alejandro Falla in qualifying for Wimbledon. Young received a wildcard into 2009 Legg Mason Tennis Classic in Washington, D.C. He played against Lleyton Hewitt who won the match. In the qualifying competition for the 2009 US Open, he won his first match against Marco Crugnola. In the second, he beat Guillermo Olaso, and he won his third-round match against Lukáš Rosol to qualify. In the first round of the main draw, he was beaten by Tommy Robredo. He failed to qualify for the Thailand Open. However, he received a lucky loser spot and had a first-round bye. He lost in the second round to Andreas Beck. Young failed to qualify for the China Open. Young lost to Ilija Bozoljac in the first round of the Tiburon (CA) Challenger on October 12.
Young played Louk Sorensen in the first round of the Calabasas Challenger and won. He then defeated Taylor Dent and won his third-round match against Luka Gregorc. He then defeated Michael Yani and Michael Russell to win the Calabasas Challenger. Young won his first three matches at the Charlottesville (VA) Challenger against Vincent Spadea, Kevin Anderson, and Dominic Inglot. Young lost to Kevin Kim in the semifinals. Young defeated Jesse Levine in the first round of the Knoxville (TN) Challenger and Alex Kuznetsov in the second round. Young lost to Grega Žemlja in the quarterfinals.
Young defeated Jack Sock in the first round of the wildcard draw for the Australian Open. He then lost to Ryan Harrison in the second round.
Young defeated Christophe Rochus in the first round of the 2010 Australian Open and was defeated in the second by Lleyton Hewitt. Young defeated Tim Smyczek in the first round of the Honolulu Challenger. Young then defeated Grigor Dimitrov and Robert Kendrick. He lost to Michael Russell in the semifinals as he retired. Young failed to qualify in Memphis, Delray Beach, Indian Wells, and Miami.
Young received a wildcard into the main draw of the U.S. Clay Championship, but lost to Kevin Anderson in the first round. Young received a wildcard into the Baton Rouge Challenger and defeated Tatsuma Ito in the first round but lost to Go Soeda in the second. Young lost to Carsten Ball in the first round of the Tallahassee Challenger. Young defeated Greg Ouellette in round one of the Savannah Challenger. Young then defeated Ryler DeHeart and Cătălin Gârd, he lost to Ryan Sweeting in the semifinals. Young lost to Joseph Sirianni in the first round of the Sarasota Challenger. He defeated Robert Kendrick in the final of LA Tennis Open to win the Challenger, and Leonardo Tavares in the first round of the Ojai Challenger. Young then defeated Dayne Kelly and Luka Gregorc. He lost to Bobby Reynolds in the semifinals.