Melanie Oudin Poem by gershon hepner

Melanie Oudin in her mid-teens
is like a second Venus or Serena;
although she failed in Wimbledon, in Queens
where there’s no grass she’s greater and she’s greener.

Diane Pucin writes about Melanie Pucin’s victory in the US Open. Diane Pucin writes in the LA Times, September 7th,2009:

Melanie Oudin is such a teenager. Oudin,17 years old and full of wide-eyed amazement at the accomplishments of her opponents and herself, uncoiled and spit off a cross-court forehand winner from her racket then squealed at the Arthur Ashe Stadium court, 'I'm so happy to be in my first Grand Slam EVER, ' Oudin yelped. Her tiny voice cracked. The emotion was genuine. For the fourth time in a row at the U.S. Open, Oudin beat a higher-ranked Russian. Today it was 13th-seeded Nadia Petrova who felt the full wrath of Oudin's line-tickling ground strokes. Oudin won 1-6,7-6 (2) ,6-3 in two hours,27 minutes… In fact, perhaps the crucial game of the match was the first one of the second set. The 27-year-old Russian saved six break points but on the seventh Oudin drew Petrova into the net and directed a lob over Petrova's long arms. The ball skipped off the end line. Petrova desperately challenged the call but the electronic line system showed what Oudin knew. That lob was good. 'I could easily have lost that game, ' Oudin said. 'But I kept fighting and got that break and I'm so happy that I won.' Oudin is now the youngest American woman to reach the Open quarterfinals since Serena Williams did it 10 years ago. Williams went on to win that title.


9/7/09