 Photographer: Susan Mullane
Date: 30 Jan 2005 |  Photographer: Susan Mullane
Date: 30 Jan 2005 |  Photographer: Susan Mullane
Date: 30 Jan 2005 |  Photographer: Susan Mullane
Date: 30 Jan 2005 |  Photographer: Susan Mullane
Date: 30 Jan 2005 |  Photographer: Susan Mullane
Date: 30 Jan 2005 |
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| 30 Jan 2005 - Melbourne, Australia - Eleanor Preston | |
| Young makes history in Melbourne |
If you happen to be passing Melbourne’s Crown Casino anytime soon you might well see 15-year-old American Donald Young patiently waiting outside for his parents and sporting a huge smile.
Young became the youngest ever junior World No.1 and the youngest ever junior grand slam champion with a 6-2, 6-4 win over Korea’s Sun-Yong Kim in Sunday’s Australian Open boys’ final and when asked how he planned to celebrate he joked that he had an evening outside the Casino waiting for him.
“My parents said they really wanted to go to the casino but I’m too young to get in so I guess I’ll just sit outside,” Young told reporters, much to his dad Donald and mum Illona’s embarrassed amusement.
Against Kim Young was by far the stronger player in the first set but, after going a break up in the second he had to survive a fight-back from the Korean when Kim broke back and threatened to take the match to three sets. Young held his serve and his nerve when he served at 3-4 down then broke in the next game to leave himself serving for the title and a place in junior tennis history.
“I’m really excited,” said Young, whose win makes up for the agonising defeat he suffered at the hands of compatriot Tim Neilly in the Orange Bowl final last month. “I’ve wanted to win this tournament for a while. That loss to Neilly helped me a lot because I was expecting to win and he came out and played better than he ever had before and he got me. Now I’m not taking anybody for granted.”
Young went into the match against Kim knowing he had to beat him to displace the Korean at the top of the junior rankings and says his ambition now is to try to maintain the standard through the year and on to the end of the 2005 season.
”Being No.1 is awesome. I’ve wanted to be No.1 since I started playing tournaments,” said Young. “It hasn’t sunk in yet. Maybe tomorrow when I see No.1 by my name then I’ll realise it.”
Azarenka made her own piece of history by becoming the first Belarussian girls’ grand slam singles champion and the first girl to make the junior No.1 ranking since her country gained independence from the former Soviet Union. Belarussian Viktoria Azarenka also clinched both the girls’ No.1 ranking and the Australian Open girls’ title with a 6-2, 6-2 victory over Hungary’s Agnes Szavay.
“I was dreaming about this so much because I wanted to be No.1 so much,” said Azarenka, 17. “Two times before I had chances and I missed them, now that I did this I can’t explain the feeling.”
Azarenka never looked in trouble against Szavay but she said afterwards that it had been a far more difficult job than it looked to those watching on Melbourne Park’s Show Court Two. “It wasn’t as easy as the score was. It was pretty tough mentally,” said Azarenka. “I felt very confident and I did the best I could and played all my best shots. This is a very good step for me.”
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