Just three years ago, in 2009 as a 17-year old, Melanie Oudin of the USA was being called the comeback kid. Now she might be called the where-did-she-go kid.
Back in 2009, the unknown Melanie was the story of the US Open, making an amazing run in only her 2nd US Open appearance, wearing her pink-and-yellow sneakers with the word “BELIEVE” stamped near the heel.
Making her way to her first Grand Slam quarterfinal appearance, in round two Melanie toppled then No. 4, Elena Dementieva – a two-time Grand Slam finalist and Beijing Olympics gold medalist. She then took out three-time major champion, Maria Sharapova in the third round, coming from a set down, followed by an upset of 13th seeded Nadia Petrova. Five points from a straight-set loss, Melanie kept plugging away with her perpetual-motion defense and pick-her-spots offense for a 1-6, 7-6(2), 6-3 victory. Hence the nickname, comeback kid.
While Melanie lost her quarterfinal match against then No. 9 Caroline Wozniacki of Denmark, she seemed to be making a name for herself, being compared to Tracy Austin, a US Open champion at 16, and Chris Evert, a semifinalist at 17, while giving U.S. tennis fans hope that there is someone coming up in the women’s game behind the Williams sisters.
That was then. This is now. In 10 Grand Slam tournaments since then, Melanie has lost in the first round seven times, and lost in the second round the other three. The result is she has dropped from her career-high ranking of 31 in April, 2010 to No. 121 today.
The U.S. Tennis Association announced Thursday the top 102 women who automatically get into the Open. Two others, Agnes Szavay and Timea Bacsinszky, used protected rankings to make it. Melanie is not on the list.
Melanie can still get in through one of the eight wild-card spots awarded by the USTA. Sixteen additional players will make it through qualifying.
So where did she go? She made a big splash in 2009, but has barely cause a ripple since then. Maybe her “believe” sneakers wore out and unbelief settled in. Whatever the reasons for her drop, she will have to pick up her game if she is ever to make a name for herself in this unforgiving game of tennis, where either you win, or you will be forgotten.
