U.S. Open Tennis - The Melanie Oudin bandwagon

New York, USA – Am I the only one not jumping on the Melanie Oudin bandwagon? I realize the title is contentious. ‘Tis intentional. And I don’t begrudge Melanie Oudin and American tennis fans their moment in the sun. But I can’t wait to hear the flailing I am going to get from all the patriotic American tennis fans for this. But there it is. True story. I am not jumping on the Melanie Oudin bandwagon. And nobody can make me.

And what is all this comparison to Justine Henin – arguably the greatest technical player in the last decade to dominate the woman’s game. That brought phenomenal touch and shot making abilities and an all-court game summed up by precision and complemented by a sweeping backhand shot so sublime the power players and baseliners of today have nothing on its purity.

For Christ’s sake the only similarity Oudin and Henin have is their height – pint-sized stature for today’s game, punching above their weight class. And some hero-worship maybe from Oudin who grew up admiring Henin – the best Belgian export in my opinion (sorry Kimi, love ya long time, just second to Justine).

Now don’t get me wrong, this is no grump-down. I recognize Oudin deserves all the crazy props being dished out in her direction, for being one of few WTA players at this year’s US Open to show some spunk. Had it not been for her and fellow teens Yanina Wickmayer (already through to the semis after beating Kateryna Bondarenko early Wednesday afternoon) and 2009 US Open would have been a big yawn.

And I would go so far as to say she deserves the props more so, considering she is the baby of the group at 17. So sure, much obliged for that.

Yet, none of that changes the fact that this has been the worst showing by the WTA premium that I have ever witnessed (y’all have to back me up on this), seemingly having left their best game behind somewhere way back on the trail. And Melanie has been lucky enough to run into these wilting – in Shaza’s case, injured – Russian flowers and flourish.

Even Melanie Oudin’s coach showed much needed restraint and wisdom in the face of all the furore surrounding Oudin, realizing that this is the first look many players have had at Oudin’s game (and the fact that the visual came on home turf amplified its density beyond its genuine limits). She will have a much tougher time the next time she runs into any of these flowers on any stage and not just at the next Grand Slam.

This is not to say she didn’t deserve the wins she managed over Pavlyuchenkova, Dementieva, Sharapova and Petrova to get to the quarters. But it’s not like she played “lights out” tennis. I mean she didn’t deliver a smack down a-la-Serena Williams’ style. You would have to have oversized blinkers on not to have seen how, more or less, each of the aforementioned quartet rolled over –save for Shaza who is coming off injury and despite her best efforts couldn’t prevent her newly tweaked wonky serve from failing her and double faulting 21 times during the course of the match. 60+ unforced errors didn’t help her cause either but gifted the match on a silver platter to Oudin. Or did you all miss that. Fo shame! Shaza never rolls over, you should know that.

That this is not the popular opinion right now has not escaped me. But there it is. Read it and weep!