It took him more than a year, but Donald Young, the most heralded American junior player since Andre Agassi, won his first tour match this week.

Young had extra time to savor the victory yesterday at the Pilot Pen in New Haven, Conn., when rain prevented him from playing his second-round match against top seed Nikolay Davydenko, the no. 5 ranked player in the world (and the subject of a gambling investigation by the ATP tour). Young has never played anyone ranked inside the top 10.

It’s been a trying year and a half for Young, whose quick hands and well-rounded game drew praise from all manner of tennis critics — including John McEnroe — from the time he was barely a teenager. The tennis world has since turned on him, pronouncing him too small, and too lacking in weapons, to compete with grown men. Every one of Young’s losses at ATP events — 11 of them in a row dating back to 2005, including one where he didn’t win a game against the no. 81 ranked player in the world — seemed to drive home an obvious point: Young was steady enough to beat boys, but couldn’t outmuscle the pros.

Young’s early performances destroyed his confidence. This year, though, he’s settled into a nice rhythm. He won his first Futures event, two levels below the pro tour, in January, and then another in April. At Wimbledon, he swallowed his pride and returned to the juniors, and won his first junior title at the All England Club, though he had to struggle through several close matches to do it. He won his first Challenger event (the next level up) last month, days before his 18th birthday. So far this year, he has boosted his ranking from a lowly 495 to a respectable 228. A victory or two at the U.S. Open, where he received a wild card into the main draw, could help Young move much closer to the top 100.

“I feel I’m a head of where I thought I was,” Young said in an interview at Wimbledon. “I didn’t think I would be in the 200s by now.”

There are many reasons to root for Young to succeed, the foremost being that his tennis is enjoyable to watch. There are few good lefthanders on the tour right now; that alone is a point in Young’s favor. Add to that his uncanny ability to hit angles and spins, and play the net if the need arises, and you have the makings of a true entertainer.

Unfortunately, it’s less likely that Young will end up the champion that everyone thought he might become. He’s certainly going to be a good player — but will he be one who challenges for majors? Unless he adds a lot of weight to his game very soon, the chances are small. Craft — that part of tennis that too few men have mastered — is one of his assets. But craft without power, without a dangerous serve, doesn’t go very far these days.

Consider where Andre Agassi (who received even more attention than Young) was at this point in his career, in 1988. By the end of that year, the 18-year-old Agassi was ranked no. 3 in the world, and he cared little for strategy — by his own admission, he was a thumper, nothing more, nothing less. Agassi had weapons and eventually learned how to use them. Four years later, he won his first major title. Young, the boy with a great tennis mind and a teenager’s power, has a much more difficult journey ahead of him.