Oudin's U.S. Open run ends

Print
E-mail

By Steve Hummer

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

FLUSHING MEADOWS, N.Y. — Belief was everywhere in Queens on Wednesday night.

Enlarge photo

AP Melanie Oudin grimaces after losing in staight sets to Caroline Wozniacki in the quarterfinal round of the U.S. Open.

Latest Georgia sports news »

It was, as usual, written small on the heels of Melanie Oudin’s funky tennis shoes. It was splashed across the new shirts of family and friends in her U.S. Open courtside box. It had spread throughout the seats of tennis’ largest stage, and out into a hard city that had gone all-soft over a 17-year-old from Georgia.

But no amount of communal faith could make it so this night.

Believe this: Oudin’s fantastic voyage through the brackets of the U.S. championship ended abruptly and without the benefit of any kind of decent or fitting crescendo.

She was swept aside in the Open quarterfinals by ninth-seeded 19-year-old Caroline Wozniacki 6-2, 6-2.

Up to her last Open post-match interview, Oudin did display the kind of fight that so endeared her to fans. No matter that she was the youngest American to advance so far at any Grand Slam event since Serena Williams a decade ago, Oudin still wanted to go further.

“Losing isn’t good enough for me,” she said.

All the on-court attributes that made the Cobb County teen so popular here the past week and a half abandoned her Wednesday. She met a player even more adept at counter-punching, persistent tennis than herself.

Wozniacki would not be the one to err like the four players that Oudin had ousted on the way to Wednesday. Hitting only five winners in two sets, Wozniacki was content to keep the ball in play and await one of Oudin’s 43 unforced errors.

No matter how much she yelled her signature exhortation, the C’mon Kid could not come back.

What Oudin left behind was a lasting fashion statement, one that could mark her career forever.

You could pay a slick Madison Avenue firm millions of dollars to come up with a shoe brand that fires the imagination of the buying public. Or, you could let a couple of teenagers talk it over on the phone for a couple of minutes and use the first idea that tumbles out.

Works just as well.

“Believe” was the simple message imprinted on the heel of Oudin’s multi-hued shoes. Television cameras zoomed in on the message each step of the way during her charmed run through the Open. The word has spread through all other media, coming to perfectly represent a story that captivated fans across the country. Then it spread to the very T-shirts worn by her family and friends Wednesday.

This unseeded kid who seemingly came out of nowhere just kept knocking off the seeded ones, and then gushing with pure, innocent joy afterward. Fans wanted to believe it could last through one more weekend.

“I always liked the word,” said Austin Smith, Oudin’s soon-to-be-16-year-old boyfriend and author of the rallying cry.

When Adidas invited Oudin to design her own shoe, the company also offered to print a message of her choice on the heel.

One call to Smith decided it.

“First thing I came up with,” he said.

“Believe in yourself,” said Smith, fleshing out the meaning. “Believe in your team. Believe in the people around you. Believe you can do anything you put your mind to.”

And believe in the future, Oudin said, when one run was done.

There is talk — nothing confirmed yet — of a trip next week to Hollywood, where Oudin would visit with Ellen DeGeneres and Conan O’Brien and entertain the country once more.

But look deeper into the future than that, to determine the impact of one tournament on one young Georgian.

“The whole experience here is going to take me a long way,” she said. “I’m going to remember this for a long time. I’ve gained a lot of confidence through this tournament, and I think I can only get better.

“I mean, I got to the quarterfinals of the U.S. Open. Hopefully I can do it again and again.”

AJC Marketplace

Smart Shopping
starts here!
This week's inserts | Today's Deals | Grocery Coupons