Greg Garber, Senior Writer 8y

The education of Jared Donaldson starting to pay off

Tennis

Patience is a virtue few teenagers possess, and Jared Donaldson -- while already exceptional on a tennis court -- is no exception.

"Yeah," he said Tuesday from Chengdu, China, "it's nearly impossible to be patient. Might be impossible. Obviously I'm not satisfied with where I am. I think I can do better, and that's the type of thinking that drives you to work as hard as you can to improve.

"The biggest challenge every player faces is when you have success. You're less likely to make certain changes in your game that need to be made."

Taylor Dent, who was once a 19-year-old whiz kid himself, repeats a lot of the things his father, Phil, a distinguished professional, told him growing up.

"It's a marathon not a sprint," said Taylor, who along with his dad coaches Donaldson. "You're not going to win every battle. When you're a kid, you want everything now. A lot of my time is spent keeping Jared's focus on the bigger picture. It's better to lose doing the right things than win doing them wrong."

Lately, Donaldson has been doing a lot right.

At No. 99, he's one of four teenagers ranked among the ATP World Tour's top 100, joined by No. 27 Alexander Zverev, No. 42 Borna Coric and fellow American Taylor Fritz (No. 58). After the US Open, Donaldson and Fritz were the first pair of U.S. teenagers to appear in the top 100 since Andy Roddick and Robby Ginepri did it in 2002.

They are part of a larger, distinguished group of 19 players who are 21 and under and ranked in the top 200 that the ATP has taken to calling the #NextGen on social media.

Donaldson, who will be the first of the teenagers to turn 20, on Oct. 9, grew up in Rhode Island but now calls Irvine, California, home. He'll be celebrating his birthday in Asia. Like a lot of guys his age at his level, he could be playing Challengers in the comfort and safety of the United States but, typically, he's chosen a more difficult path.

He'll try to qualify his way into the main draws next week at Tokyo and then the Shanghai Rolex Masters.

"You can improve exponentially by playing the best competition available," Donaldson said. "The best players are playing in Asia right now."

The learning curve continued on Saturday in China, when Donaldson -- the top-seeded player in the qualifying draw -- lost his first match to Marinko Matosevic 7-5, 6-4.

But just as a college student can often learn more outside of the classroom, Donaldson is going to school on all the small details that make a successful professional player. When does that nagging pain in your knee warrant a visit to the physio? Where do you find food in a foreign country that is safe and nutritious? How much time should be devoted to practice versus weight training? How much sleep is appropriate? What's the best string tension for a windy day in southwest China?

And so, the education of Jared Donaldson continues.

Admittedly it was a tough year for Donaldson before he caught fire this summer. The 6-foot-2, 165-pound athlete played some Challengers and tried to qualify for a number of ATP-level events. He reached the main draws in Memphis and Miami but lost his first match both times. After losing in the final round of the Savannah Challenger to Bjorn Fratangelo, Donaldson lost two of three matches in Tallahassee and Bordeaux before falling in the third round of qualifying at Roland Garros.

And then shoulder and knee injuries forced him to sit out for more than a month.

Playing before a hometown crowd on the grass at Newport, Rhode Island, Donaldson lost his first match back in straight sets to Donald Young. It was a predictable result, coming off those injuries and considering Donaldson's best surfaces are hard courts and clay.

"The biggest trick," Dent said, "is not to get too up after good weeks and too down after bad weeks. Good can be just as bad -- or worse.

"Newport was the last surface he was going to feel comfortable on. It was fine because Jared believed in what he was working on, the direction he was going."

That was evident a week later when he qualified in Washington, D.C. (beating Matosevic) and his first-round win against Vincent Millot. Then Donaldson won four matches, two of them in qualifying, in Toronto's Rogers Cup, including a victory over No. 33-ranked Fabio Fognini.

Before the US Open, Donaldson fell to Milos Raonic, Nick Kyrgios, Stan Wawrinka and Julien Benneteau in various events, but there was incremental progress across the board.

The key to Donaldson's game, he says, is taking time away from opponents by being aggressive and hitting the ball early. To do this requires quickness and strength that isn't typically found in teenagers.

"Earlier this year I was trying to do it but, quite honestly, wasn't very good at it. When I got injured, I got stronger and things started to click. I started moving better, getting a better base, got behind the ball quicker. I was staying in points longer and hitting good quality shots."

It all came together at the US Open. After failing to land a USTA wild card, Donaldson won three qualifying matches to reach the main draw. He produced a surprising first-round upset win against No. 14 David Goffin, then took out No. 32-ranked Viktor Troicki before losing to Ivo Karlovic.

Dent, who was a terrific server in his day, has been working diligently with Donaldson on his delivery. He and his father will open the Dent Tennis Academy in Keller, Texas, next month. They'll further work on Donaldson's game and fitness.

"He's 165 pounds soaking wet," Dent said. "He's giving up 20 pounds of muscle to the other men on tour. That's a huge percentage of strength and power. It won't come super quickly, but it will come."

Confidence, as Wawrinka will tell you, can be just as valuable as a gorgeous one-handed backhand or a booming serve. After losing the first set of the US Open final against No. 1 seed Novak Djokovic, Wawrinka found a way to rally and win the final three sets.

Back in late August, Donaldson had a similar experience.

In a second-round match at the Western & Southern Open in Cincinnati, Donaldson found himself playing Wawrinka, then a two-time Grand Slam singles champion.

"I wasn't nervous," Donaldson said, "but concerned that my normal level wasn't going to be good enough. In the first game, I stood too far back when he was serving. I was giving him too much credit and me not enough. I played the first game really poorly"

Rain intervened and the players were sent to the locker room. Donaldson told his team that he just needed to play his game to keep it close."

He came out swinging and won the first set before falling 2-6, 6-3, 6-4. In retrospect, he took a set from one of the world's best players -- just like Djokovic a few weeks later in New York.

"I gave a good account of myself," Donaldson said. "It confirmed all the things I'm working on and showed me I was on the right path."

^ Back to Top ^