Name Dele Young | Role Tennis Player | |
Dele Young (born 18 April 1964 in Boston, Massachusetts) is a former professional tennis player from the United States who represented Kenya at the 1982 Wimbledon Championships. As a tennis player, Young was known for his high sense of perception, his speed and his accuracy when placing shots.
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Early life
Young was born in Boston, Massachusetts to a Sierra Leonean father and a Gambian mother. As a child, he grew up in Kenya and attended St. Mary's School in Nairobi, where he further developed his tennis skills under the guidance of the school's tennis program.
Tennis career
In 1980, Dele Young was young tennis player. In 1980, Dele was ranked number one in the Kenya under-16 category and number 2 in the under-18 category. It was during this year that Dele played the semi-finals of the African Junior Championships held in Dakar, Senegal. During this year, Dele Young also won the Rift Valley Open U 16, the Nairobi Club Open, the Kenya Open under 16-singles and the Kenya Invitational Juniors Championship Doubles which led him to be ranked number 110 in the world.
By 1981 he was already competing at the senior level and managed to be ranked number 3 for the Men’s category and Number 2 for the junior’s category. It was during this year that he managed to sneak into the top 100 of the world as he managed to play in the African Junior Davis Cup that was held in Zimbabwe, as well as being the runner-up in the African Junior Championships that were held in Dakar, Senegal.
By 1982, Young was already ranked Number one in Kenya’s under-18 ranking and was ranked Number fifty five in the world by the ITF. It was during this year that Young played his most prestigious tournament as he went to represent Kenya in the juniors’ edition of the 1982 Wimbledon Championship, thanks in part to the reputation he had built amongst the selector’s eyes due to his consistent performance in internationally run championships, particularly during the Senegal Junior Championships. It was during this year that he managed to become Kenya’s national junior champion by defeating Paul Wekesa in the finals of the Parklands Club Junior Open Championship. For this tournament, he was seeded as number one and, despite Wekesa’s efforts, Dele Young managed to easily defeat his opponent to claim the title. Young would eventually go on to claim a triple crown in the championships and he’d be credited with the boys’ doubles under 18 and mixed doubles.
1983 also proved to be a successful year for Young, as he managed to win the Somalia Men's open tennis championship held in Mogadishu. Young also won the Somalia Men's doubles championship and managed to win the Towson State Collegiate singles Championship held at Towson, Maryland as well as the 1983 Somalia Men's Open Tournament.
Life After Tennis
Dele Young attended George Mason University where he earned a degree in Economics. During this time he also played tennis at the collegiate level and enjoyed moderate success. He would go on to get a Master’s degree in Economics from the Pennsylvania State University as well as an MBA from the University of Baltimore. Dele Young is active in the fields of taxation, aerospace (technology transfer) and shared services. Young currently works as an independent business consultant at his own company; Young Management Consulting; an IBM Partner which specializes in Business process transformation, quality management, and strategic management. Dele continues to be an figure in the world of African Tennis and he is currently a board member of the Tennis Africa Cup.