Donaldson's Revamped Game Pays Off In Savannah

#NextGen star Jared Donaldson is still a teenager, but he’s been taking an adult approach to developing his game for continued success on the ATP Challenger Tour.

The 19-year-old American has reached his first ATP Challenger Tour final of the year at this week’s $50,000 event in Savannah, Georgia. After prevailing in two intense three-set battles on Thursday and Friday, with the latter being a win over No. 4 seed Gerald Melzer, Donaldson saved his best tennis so far this week for his semi-final against No. 2 seed Donald Young. Striking his forehand with authority and controlling the tempo of the baseline rallies, Donaldson handily prevailed over his more experienced opponent, 6-4, 6-3.

Perhaps the most impressive part of Donaldson’s performance against Young was his return of serve. Having once been one of the weaker parts of his game, he continually hit Young’s first serves close to the baseline and brought the rallies back to a neutral point. Donaldson clinched the match by blasting a return winner on his first match point.

“I’ve struggled on my return at times and felt like I wasn’t giving myself enough opportunities to put balls in play and break guys,” admitted Donaldson. “I’m playing more aggressively lately, but in the past I may have done it in a way where I was going for too much. Now I’m doing it in a way that has more spin and margin so I can hit those shots consistently.”

Donaldson also won an impressive 87 per cent of points when he got his first serve into play. Having attempted to revamp with his serve in the past without success, the American said that going back to basics has gotten the shot back to where he wanted it to be.

“I was serving amazingly well in Futures tournaments when I was 17, but when I started trying to hit the ball a little harder, my fundamentals started getting a little erratic,” said Donaldson. “I’ve felt more confident in my first serve and made some adjustments after the Challenger last week in Sarasota. My second serve can still be a little shaky, so I just need to make sure I don’t get too passive with it and keep up my racquet speed.”

Donaldson is now within striking distance of winning the USTA’s French Open Wild Card Challenge and could clinch it with a strong result in next week’s ATP Challenger Tour event in Tallahassee. Although the American said he would be thrilled to make his main draw debut in Paris, it’s far from his mind as he focuses on the championship match against either No. 1 seed Denis Kudla or Bjorn Fratangelo

“The wild card is more of an afterthought. I’ve gotten my fair share of wild cards over the years and they’re nice to have, but I’d honestly rather make the main draw at Roland Garros by going through qualifying,” said Donaldson. “It’s a nice bonus for doing well in these Challengers, but you have to worry about the match at hand instead of thinking about chasing ranking points and opportunities. It’s impossible to focus otherwise.”