Rafa Hewett v Donald Young at the Selkirk Kansas City Open

all righty we are back here you guys at the Kansas City open presented by selker we are going to have a great matchup here between Donald Young and Rafa hwit we've got some Lefty Onley fire going on over here Rafa out to a two lead Donald with a little bit of a mish hit dropper there Rafa's laughing as he walks back ooh smart Rafa is dancing his way back to the Baseline you can hear the music going from Center Court it is a Vibe here R is just dancing away o Mis return by Donald both these players are going to have really strong ground strokes Donald Young a former professional tennis player really high level really great Serve by Donald Young there so deep kept Rafa's return short which against Donald who has amazing ground strokes just not going to work folks and a miss volley a little bit long there from Rafa and I've got Dave Weinbach here joining me in the booth I was excited to see this one Rachel you got two sweet swing lefties here of course Donald Young expressional tennis player trying to remember how high he got in the world Rachel I used to love watching him his favorite event always seemed to be the US Open in New York City at flushing Meadow he always turned his game up there just a superior athlete and uh loves pick a ball had a chance to talk to him in Palm Springs last year at the tournament and he has just fallen in love with this game and he said he needed something to take his competitive juices away you know he was done with tennis he was ready to move on and pickle ball found him at the perfect opportunity yeah I think pickle ball does that for a lot of players Dave I think a lot of people have come from other sports and they're looking for that competitive fire again and then they find pickle ball and fall in love so mhm wow Donald's stringing quite a few points here together yeah we saw Rafa earlier on this court and played one of the cleanest matches I've ever seen him play so he's going to be really tough uh to beat in this these two players actually have very similar Styles they two-handed back hands I actually think both guys prefer to pass off their two-handed backhand they both serve with a heavy Top Spin bounce they both cover the kitchen line really well um I would probably give young a slight Edge in mobility and that's no slight to Rafa Rafa moves very well uh but Donald uh has excellent footwork and he's difficult to pass I've got a chance to commentate three or four his matches in the last year and he's he's really tough to pass he makes you beat him three or four times to win a point yeah I was going to agree with you Dave I think going the the way the points are going currently I do give a slight Edge to Donald because he has those super impressive ground strokes Rafa does as well but I think just going ex tennis player professional tennis player you're just not going to win those groundstroke rallies so I would love to see Rafa coming in like you said he's hard to pass so 65 here early stages of game one and yeah Rafa wasn't sure about that serve but I did think it caught the line and skitted off the line 75 here in game one and another serve that Clips the line and that puts huitt in such a tough spot Rachel when young can get that serve so deep with so much Top Spin it it just puts Rafa at a disadvantage from the opening start yeah and maybe that's why Rafa is having a tough time getting in because he just can't generate um an aggressive return but love that point from Rafa really keeping Donald Young Young pin back on that Baseline there giving him no chance to get in and and there's that two-handed backhand that that Rafa loves so does Donald and uh I think that you're going to see Donald Young actually hit more returns middle or to the hwi forehand right on Q right on Q and Donald's got to recognize this better that that Rafa loves his two-handed backand down the line he'll hit more passing shots down the line even though it's over a higher part of the net than he does crosscourt but he certainly can can wrap it around his body and go crosscourt as well so he's just so dangerous off that side he actually makes more ears on his forehand side yeah agreed and I think Donald is is figuring that out as he's gone to the forehand the past couple of points here close match here oh a little bit too much there fully expected that Rachel Dave Weinbach Rachel rer proud to bring you this live action here on this grand stand court all day and Rafa hwit continuing his extraordinary play today Rachel here on the grand stand Court yeah that was an amazing forehand and you know Rafa kind of threw that one in our face Dave because we just said that was his weaker shot and he's showing us oh and he had that young so there anticipating that very well and missed a very easy volley one that he's going to execute 98 out of 100 times yeah that's going to sa along and we're going to see a timeout here I wouldn't be surprised if Rua loses a couple points if he gets a little upset about that net there that's a really good return there by by Young and I like how he closes to the net quickly I see too much Rachel where people hit a good return of serve and then they mosy on up to the net too slowly you got to get there the quicker you get there the more pressure it puts on your opponent we'll see if Raa can get on the board here first in the second game wow just too good from Donald really got around the edge of that ball to to hit that crosscourt backand young has really kept himself in great shape Rachel uh since he retired from his tennis days and he attributes that to uh to pickle ball exclusively I mean he he said he still works out a lot and uh just loves to compete so I think he has a very high ceiling we haven't seen anywhere near the level that Donald Young is going to get to in this game and I mean both singles and doubles double he hasn't fared very well yet he doesn't quite get what I call the top tier Partners yet but I think he will yeah yeah he's definitely putting the work in and you can see it Y and and you know what Dave I'm pretty sure that Donald Young is a is a single man so he's look he's keeping himself looking good for a reason so ladies if you're [Laughter] watching hopefully he's single if not never mind do your research first ladies that's a really good good shot by Rafa that ball really stayed down and made Young's pass so much more difficult yeah and you know what Dave in the first game Donald Young was going into the net a lot more often this game he stayed back and right on Q I think he does a lot better when when he's being aggressive and moving into the net I think Raa he at questioning that call he's going to give it to Donald even though I think he's sure that he was out oh that's way out I mean that's two feet out so he has to realize that he's down wind here and the wind has picked up since they even started this match Rachel and he would staying back what wow he says way out that was a really good point by Rafa because Donald was hitting really low penetrating bleys and Rafa was still able to keep those balls low as he was hitting up on them oh and a net Clipper Ral is saying sorry but I'm getting the feeling that he's not and he kisses the net oh Rafa you never know what's going to happen with Rafa Donald smiling it's 22 oh but not that time correctly called wide yeah great leave by Donald there I thought a really smart play by Donald I thought he made three really good decisions in that point where he could have gone in any direction and I like that he's going out wide and using that angle oh great serve and a great return kind of Lucky by Rafa hu there Rafa having a grand old time out here that's what I like about him he just he's a happy go-lucky guy one of the funniest guys we have on the whole tour yeah he's a character he he really is and he's got a really interesting breath of knowledge I mean I've had interesting conversations about everything from business to politics to tennis to pickleball to the best lefties in the history of the sport I mean you name it the guy loves to to converse and he's he's got such good people skills uh people flock to him because of his his his personality he's just a happy go-lucky guy he can get a little excited at times and a little um I'm not going to say I rate but [Music] um right on Q Rafa Rafa ties it up at 33 and uh Donald looking over to his box over here uh wonder what else can I do with this guy oh what a get oh really smart by Donald to not do too much with that ball he just put it back over the net didn't give Raam any choices worked out for [Music] him and that's going to sail way wide so after uh Rafa takes game 118 a highly competitive game two here really good placement by Rafa there oh and young second guessing himself on if even if he should have hit that ball Rachel yeah it looked to me like it was going to be wide another net Court Donald clearly frustrating Rafa say I had a shitty ear oh there's no filter with Rafa hu no that is hilarious so funny oh my gosh oh and young very very upset uh number one by the way he's playing number two by the five or six net cords that he was had and I think some of these Antics uh that he has displaying is getting to to Young so you know if you're Donald Young Rachel you need to refocus here and and bring everything back internal and focus on what you can control yeah I think Donald is having most of his success when he's approaching to Rafa's forehand he's really been picking on that shot um but he's gotten burned a couple times by opening to the forehand and then trying to close to the backhand and rth is just too good on that backhand side so I would like to see Donald just keep going to that forehand until he has a really good angle on that backand that opens up the court a little bit more but if I'm Donald I'm just telling myself hopefully those net cords can stop he's got to get himself back in here down four five in the second o and that's not the start that you want to see a Mis return halfway up the net we'll see if Rafa can take advantage of his six for lead here we are live in Overland Park Kansas at the selker Kansas City open right here on the grand stand court and good call Rachel you told Donald and coached him to hit more returns and more balls to the hu forehand and now Donald relaxing and showing some smiles and oh too relax Dave I think he was still laughing and smiling when he was in the process of serving yeah you got to be careful sometimes I almost think it's a strategy for players like Rafa or players like Jia who are so personable that they kind of get you to relax and get out of that like locked in mode um and it can really mess with you so when I'm playing someone like Rafa I just try to keep to myself not get involved in the in the he he haha moments all right 4 six he's going to get this oh he didn't do anything with it a big eye roll from Donald he was there in plenty of time ra and he just fluffed it up really high and he knew as soon as he hit it yeah still got to be pretty frustrating 64 just missed by Rafa really good shot by Donald right on the back of the line there feel like Donald really has got to get off for right here and that's going to sail long correctly called long RAF is challenging it but it was easily long by two three balls yeah he just uh asked the ref but not going to go to an official video challenge here wow I'm surprised that Rafa missed that that backhand is usually so steady but Donald hit a really penetrating Drive yeah and it looked like Rafa tried to do too a little too much with it Donald Young with one of the best overheads in all of pickle ball surprisingly Shanks that off the top of the paddle yeah that one H that even hurt me Dave yeah so now we're at 66 here Rachel in a highly contested second game and I must add highly entertaining as well in a great depth on that volley by hwit yeah too short of a return from Donald Young there he's really got to get that deeper it sure kept the pressure on Rafa made him hit two extra balls though let's see if Donald can string together a couple points here all right he's at 610 Rachel after losing game one so this is the time for him I think he has to get at least two points here on this service yeah to mentally stay in this game yeah agreed and that's not going to do it so it is hot and humid and sweaty out here folks and even the ball is getting a little bit wet um which is causing problems for players as they make contact surprised young didn't get a a verbal warning there from The Ref with some of those words maybe she didn't hear them yeah maybe she didn't hear all right and that's out he's got another another shot here to string together some points get back in the second game 61 610 here game two yeah just out there for Donald Young yeah what correctly called I thought yeah I it did look definitely a little bit long Rafa he would I think is going to have his third chance at a match point here and just another Miss return to close out the match there yeah that's one of the the