NEW YORK -- Jared Donaldson has accomplished some surprising feats this summer, perhaps none quite so impressive as his ability to remain off the radar despite the heavy buzz about age-group peers such as Taylor Fritz and Frances Tiafoe.
Donaldson, 19, is on the radar now. He arrived with a boom, not a ping, here at the US Open, where he upset No. 12 seed David Goffin in the first round and then bolted into the third round with an impressive 7-5, 6-3, 6-3 win Thursday evening over Viktor Troicki, who entered the tournament ranked No. 32 in the world.
The sudden flare of the spotlight hasn't exactly blinded Donaldson.
"I think the other guys deserve a lot more attention than myself," Donaldson said after his latest win. "My peers have done better than I have. Honestly, whether or not I get a lot of attention, I'm still 120 in the world (No. 122 to be precise). That's not amazing."
What the articulate native of Rhode Island left unsaid is that his low profile is partly due to his decision to pursue a radically different developmental path outside the cone of the traditional spotlight. Donaldson went to Argentina at age 14 for two years to train on clay to improve his movement, consistency and stamina.
"Even though I was 14 years old, I was doing a pro schedule just like it was my job," Donaldson said of that experience. "I was 14, but I was doing fitness 2½ hours a day, hitting four hours a day. I was training with guys who were 18, 19, 20 years old. It was a big takeaway. It taught me how to work really hard."
Later, while his age peers were vying for the prestigious junior French Open singles title, he was grinding on the Futures tour in Turkey. When the junior tour moved to Roehampton for Wimbledon qualifying, Donaldson was whacking forehands and seeing the sights in Binghamton, New York.
The payoff began this summer, as Donaldson reached the third round of the Canada Masters, qualified at Washington D.C., and won a match at Atlanta. Almost all his losses were to quality players: Milos Raonic in Canada, Nick Kyrgios in Atlanta, Stan Wawrinka in Cincinnati.
"I've been playing well this summer," Donaldson said. He added, "But I've also had kind of an average beginning of the year."
The seasoning of Donaldson's game was evident against Troicki. Donaldson was down 2-4 in the first set but turned it around and never surrendered the lead. He leaped to 3-0 in the second set, at which point Troicki took a prolonged injury timeout to have his left foot treated, presumably for a blister.
The distraction was enough to stop Donaldson's momentum. He was broken in the next game but never was rattled. Up 3-2, Donaldson fiercely defended his lead by holding a game of multiple deuces. At one point in the game, Troicki took some time to change the bandage on a finger, but Donaldson remained unfazed.
"The guy [Troicki] took a lot of timeouts, there was a lot going on," Taylor Dent, Donaldson's coach for over two years now, told ESPN.com. "Jared handled all of that well. He played a very mature, focused match."
Donaldson isn't worried about getting attention. "I want to be top-10, top-five, No. 1," he said. "If I get that ranking, I'll have enough attention -- almost too much attention."
The feeling here is that somehow, he would be able to handle it.