Oudin only top seed remaining after Memphis 1st round

3rd seed Melanie Oudin won her first round match against Anastasia Pivovarova in Memphis last night, but the other top seeds were eliminated in opening round play. Top seed Barbora Zahlavova Strycova lost to Michaella Krajicek, and 2nd seed Sofia Arvidssson lost to Alex Stevenon. 4th seed Alla Kudryavtseva is gone, too. She lost in the first round to Sandra Zahlavova.

In Bogota, there was a qualifying match that lasted over three hours and forty minutes. Sharon Fichman defeated Maria Irigoyen 7-6, 6-2, 6-7.

Miscellany

Maria Sharapova has ended her contract with Prince, and will not be using a Prince racquet in 2011. She has not yet announced which racquet she will use.

Melanie Oudin has traded her famous Addidas shoes for Wilson shoes and clothing. She already plays with a Wilson racquet.

Philippe Bouin has left his 30-year position as L'Equipe's head tennis writer.

Here are some good tips for preparing your tennis gear for the cold weather.

Check out the WTA Backspin Prediction Blowout.

I read recently that most used tennis balls are discarded. If you have a physical rehabilitation center near you, you can deliver your used tennis balls to the staff. Rehab centers always need them for use on walkers. The best use of old tennis balls that I have ever seen was their conversion to living spaces for the harvest mouse, a threatened species in Great Britain.

Oudin enters Family Circle Cup

Melanie Oudin has entered the 2011 Family Circle Cup, which will be played in Charleston April 2-10. Oudin has a 5-2 record at the event, which she began playing in 2009. That year, she received a wild card into the qualifying rounds, and reached the third round of the main draw, in which she was defeated by Marion Bartoli. Last year, Oudin reached the quarterfinals, and lost to eventual finalist Vera Zvonareva.

Following her 2010 quarterfinal appearance, Oudin reached her career-high ranking of number 31 in the world; she is currently ranked number number 61. The 19-year-old recently scored the USA Fed Cup team's only victory in the Fed Cup final by defeating French Open champion Francesca Schiavone

Miscellany

The Australian Open wild card playoffs for U.S. players will be held December 17-19 at the Racquet Club of the South in Atlanta.

Elena Dementieva has been offered the position of vice president of the Russian Tennis Federation.

Jelena Jankovic has a new puppy named Stella.

Leslie Nielsen, who died Sunday, once played the role of sportswriter Nelson Fisher, in the 1978 television movie, "Little Mo." It was Nelson who gave Maureen Connolly her now-famous nickname.

Sabine  Lisicki and Melanie Oudin hit together this week at the Bollettieri Academy.

Italy defends Fed Cup title with a 3-1 victory

There was one bright moment for the USA Fed Cup team today: Melanie Oudin, looking very much like she did in the 2009 U.S. Open, soundly defeated Francesca Schiavone 6-3, 6-1 in the third rubber of the 2010 Fed Cup final. Bethanie Mattek-Sands was scheduled to play in this rubber, but after her cramping incident yesterday (Mattek-Sands told the press that she the only times she had ever cramped, she had been ill; it turns out that she arrived in San Diego with a sinus infection), USA captain Mary Joe Fernandez decided to keep her out of competition.

Oudin and Schiavone continually broke each other in the first set, then Oudin was able to hold for 5-3. That was all she needed. When she won the set, Italy's Flavia Pennetta left the stands and headed for the locker room, realizing that her services might be needed.

Though it would have been reasonable to assume that Schiavone would pull herself together for the second set, that assumption would have been wrong. Oudin held, then broke the error-prone Italian at love. Shiavone held at love after Oudin went up 3-0, and it seemed that the momentum would change. But by this time, Oudin was beating Schiavone at her own game. She regained her forehand form, and was able to slice and drop the ball and move Schiavone around successfully. Meanwhile, Schiavone made significant errors, and Oudin ended the match 6-3, 6-1 with an ace.

"I really approached it as 'I haven't had a big match in a while, I haven't played a top 10 player in a while, I had no fear'," Oudin said after the match.

Coco Vandeweghe (could her mother please start sitting with the Djokovic clan?) began her match against Flavia Pennetta by breaking the Italian. But it wasn't long before the USA's representative demonstrated enough inconsistency and poor movement to allow Pennetta to dominate. Tired though she may have been, Pennetta rose to the occasion and expertly defeated Vandeweghe 6-1, 6-2. Pennetta made a total of only eight unforced errors in the match.

Italy defeated the USA in the Fed Cup final last year, also. The Italian team also won the title in 2006.

It has been a great year for Italy. The team won another Fed Cup title, Schiavone won the French Open, and Pennetta was half of the tour's top doubles team.

Oudin exits in U.S. Open second round

We all got up to dance
Oh, but we never got the chance

I didn't want to see Alona Bondarenko or Melanie Oudin lose today. I have a soft spot for the Bondarenko sisters, and as for Melanie, well-- it's hard not to want the best for her. But the second-round crowd--both at the Open and at home--had to say "bye" to 2009's Miss American Pie, as Bondarenko played a steadier and cleaner match, and defeated Oudin 6-2, 7-5.

Oudin's backhand has improved quite a bit lately. In this match, however, she was often shaky with her well-known forehand, either hitting it too conservatively or losing control of it altogether. It simply didn't look like the forehand we saw at this tournament in 2009. Oudin failed to serve adequately, and she made 38 unforced errors. To me, she often looked pretty anxious, which is understandable, I suppose, given all the expectations placed on her.

Bondarenko hit only three winners the entire match, which is as much a description of what happened as anything. Bondarenko, who has been konwn to get shaky, herself, will face French Open champion Francesca Schiavone in the third round.

Stosur gets past Vesnina in 1st round of U.S. Open

Elena Vesnina's first set against Sam Stosur in the opening round of the U.S. Open was very well played--and very well served. The second set went to a tiebreak, which Stosur won. By the third set, it was all about the 5th seed, as Vesnina's form slipped away, and Stosur took control, winning 3-6, 7-6, 6-1.

Venus Williams smacked ten aces against Roberta Vinci. There was a moment when Williams stretched for a volley and felt some obvious pain, but she recovered quickly. The 3rd seed looked in surprisingly good form (she hasn't played during the U.S. Open Series), and defeated Vinci 6-4, 6-1. Vinci is always fun to watch, and the first set was competitive. Williams' next opponent is Canadian qualifier Rebecca Marino, who defeated Ksenia Pervak.

Defending champion Kim Clijsters went down 0-4 in her second set against Great Arn. She got through this bad patch, however, and won the match 6-0, 7-5. Melanie Oudin--who has obviously been working on her backhand--hit winners consistently against Olga Savchuk, whom she defeated 6-3, 6-0. Qualifier Savchuk made only two points in the second set. The match was played on Arthur Ashe Stadium, and Oudin was anxious at the beginning, but straightened herself out.

Olga Govortsova fell onto her wrist during her match against Elena Dementieva, who won in straight sets. Govortsova did not appear to recover very well from the fall. Christina McHale hurt her leg in her match, and--though she was heavily bandaged by a trainer--she could no longer push off to serve successfully. Vania King defeated her with the odd score of 6-3, 0-6, 6-1.

Daniela Hantuchova, looking confident at the net, defeated Dinara Safina in straight sets. Qualifier Mandy Minella had a surprise win over Polona Hercog, and Zheng Jie won two tiebreak sets (7-0 and 7-1) against Timea Bacsinszky.

Miscellany

Caroline Wozniacki will be the number 1 seed at the U.S. Open; she is last year's runner-up.

Former top juniors (number 1 and 2, respectively) Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova and Melanie Oudin will compete in the first round of Pilot Pen Tennis. Oudin defeated Pavlyuchenkova in the first round of the 2009 U.S. Open.

Longines and Steffi Graf will host the Center Court for Kids Tennis Clinic on September 2 at Central Park Tennis Center. Graf, a Longines Brand Ambassador, will be assisted by other tennis pros in providing instruction to fifty girls from the metro New York area.

Daria Gavrilova is the girls' singles champion of the inaugural Youth Olympic Games.

The 100k ITF Bronx tournament begins on August 23. A lead-in to the U.S. Open, the tournament features a main draw of 32 players. This year's entry list includes Sabine Lisicki, Anna Chakvetadze, Ekaterina Makarova, Iveta Benesova, and Klara Zakopalova.

The unfortunate consequences of Melanie Mania

If Melanie Oudin could have a new word imprinted on her shoes right now, that word would probably be "forget." The 18-year-old from Marietta, Georgia has not had as good a season as she might have expected. Today, she lost to Fed Cup teammate Bethanie Mattek-Sands in the first round of the Rogers Cup, and the loss probably wasn't much of a surprise to fans.

Oudin has had good runs this year in Paris (semifinals), Memphis (quarterfinals), Ponte Vedra Beach (quarterfinals), and Charleston (quarterfinals); everywhere else, she has fallen in the first or second round. At Wimbledon, where Oudin made it to the round of 16 last year, she was defeated in the second round by the ever-threatening Jarmila Groth. Her season has been inconsistent so far, and fans tend to remember the failures, rather than the successes.

As the U.S. Open approaches, I can't help but consider what a task it must be for Oudin to just go about her business. Her run last year was one of the most exciting events in women's tennis during 2009. She became a media darling, which is just about always a bad thing, especially in the U.S. We like to turn people into overnight icons, and then tear them down with the same enthusiasm with which we created them.

Melanie Oudin does not exist to "save" U.S. tennis. She is a spirited young player with a great forehand and great footwork, and she has all kinds of problems with her serve. My best guess is that--at this point--she has significant problems with her confidence, too. While her image is being flashed all over television (she's the "upstart" in the U.S. Open Series promos), she's losing matches. Just this week, she acknowledged that she has probably done too much media lately.

Does she need a better handler? Maybe. She's a poised young woman, but the operative word is "young," and maybe she could use a bit more guidance than she currently gets. She certainly could use some help with that serve.

But my objective here is not to tear down Oudin; rather, it is to suggest that we should leave her alone. The 2009 Wimbledon and U.S. Open runs were remarkable--so much so, that Oudin cannot live up to them. I still think that she has a good deal of potential, but--for whatever reason--she has not met it this year. I have seen her play twice this year--in Charleston and in the Fed Cup semifinals--and there is just something about her that pulls me in. As readers of this blog will know, I'm definitely not looking for someone to save U.S. tennis: I just enjoy Oudin's on-court persona, and I appreciate the things that she does well.

I have no idea whether Melanie Oudin will find a way to serve better and more consistently, and to use her other skills to move up in the rankings (she is 44 now, but a drop after the U.S. Open is expected). I certainly hope she does; I don't want to see that forehand go by the wayside. But she could also fade away; only time will tell. She'll be 19 in September, and for women's tennis these days, that's young.

In the meantime, no one can take away her 2009 Russian-smacking mission at the U.S. Open. Maybe it was too much, too soon. Maybe it was just one of those things. Some fans still want to believe...as corny as that may sound. But  in the end, Oudin is simply an 18-year-old who--like any 18-year-old--doesn't need to be bludgeoned by vicious criticism before she even has a chance to call herself an adult.

Miscellany

David Rosenberg says that Kimiko Date Krumm's comeback is the most overrated. Some would beg to differ.

Venus Williams and Polo Lauren are partners for a virtual clinic Williams is doing on August 26, and they have also put their heads together to create a tennis dress and a limited-edition U.S. Open polo shirt. Depending on how these projects go, Williams and Polo Ralph Lauren may extend their partnership. Williams has already formed a partnership with the Gilt Group, and says that her EleVen clothing should be in traditional retail outlets next year. The partnership with Polo Ralph Lauren is, it would seem, a departure from the EleVen philosophy of creating athletic clothing that is easily affordable, so it appears that Williams may be branching out and offering more than one EleVen line.

Melanie Oudin and Jamie Hampton may play doubles together at the U.S. Open.

Elena Dementieva says that every time she plays, she feels nervous and excited. "As long as I as I feel that way, I'll keep playing."

Bethanie Mattek-Sands will blog for USA Today during the U.S. Open.

Miscellany

Vera Zvonareva says she cannot get all of her course materials online, so she has to take twenty books with her when she travels to tournaments. "It helps me to not get bored with tennis."

Zvonareva and Svetlana Kuznetsova are playing doubles together in San Diego this week.

Melanie Oudin vacationed on the beach on the Isle of Palms, just outside Charleston, for a week last month.

The West Side Tennis Club is considering selling the Forest Hills stadium. 

Raquel Kops-Jones and Sarah Borwell had to retire after one game in the Stanford doubles semifinals because Borwell became dizzy after the match began. Borwell sustained a concussion when she was hit in the head by a tennis ball during the doubles quarterfinals. After the retirement, she saw a doctor, who asked her to count backwards by 7s from 100. Reports Borwell, "I am unable to do that without a concussion, so you can imagine I failed!"

You can get to know Anastasia Pivovarova here.

Azarenka withdraws from San Diego

Citing a problem with her shoulder, Stanford champion Victoria Azarenka has withdrawn from the Mercury Insurance Open. Melanie Oudin was scheduled to play Azarenka in the first round, but will now play a qualifier. Oudin lost to Azarenka in Stanford.

Miscellany

Kim Clijsters defeated Serena Williams 6-3, 6-2 in the Brussels exhbition match that was supposed to have featured the "Best of Belgium," but was changed when Justine Henin had to withdraw because of an injury. I expected Yanina Wickmayer to be asked to step in, but instead, orgnanizers chose Williams. 35,681 spectators attended the match, the biggest crowd ever to attend a tennis event.

Dinara Safina is back on the court. She and Victoria Azarenka have been given wild cards into the Bank of the West Classic.

Not surprisingly, Maria Sharapova--who has long had a say in her own Nike dress designs--has decided to design tennis clothes for the rest of us.

Tennis Channel will broadcast the men's and women's finals of the U.S. Open National Playoffs. The men's final will be held on July 25, and the women's final will be held on August 1. The winners receive wild cards into U.S. Open qualifying.

The World Team Tennis finals will also take place on July 25.

Melanie Oudin will play in Stanford, San Diego and Cincinatti.

Alona Bondarenko married her coach, Nikolay Dyachok, on Thursday. The wedding reception was held today, and the couple is then off to a honeymoon in Crete.

Quote of the day

"I think it was really an adjustment period for her after the U.S. Open; probably a bit of a shock. I almost felt bad that she got so much publicity. Yes, it was a great story, but as a tennis pro watching her matches, I thought, Don’t give her too much press, because it’s going be hard to live up to that, and it was."

Chris Evert, on the subject of Melanie Oudin

USA goes to Fed Cup final

It took all five rubbers to get the job done, but the USA won its second consecutive Fed Cup semifinal today in Birmingham. Guided by captain Mary Joe Fernandez and led by Melanie Oudin, the USA defeated Russia 3-2, earning a second final contest with defending champion Italy. Earlier today, Italy defeated the Czech Republic 5-0 in the other semifinal.

The first rubber featured Oudin against Elena Dementieva, and it wasn't a pretty sight. At 3-all in the first set, neither player had held serve. Oudin then went up 40-15, but got tight and was broken again. Dementieva then went down 0-40, and Oudin broke her on her second break point. Dementieva broke her back, and Oudin instinctively threw her hand over her mouth in what I suppose is now known as an "oops, I did it again" gesture.

Naturally, when Dementieva served for the set, she was broken at love. In the eleventh game, Oudin held, and then Dementieva held, which led to a tiebreak. Dementieva prevailed 7-4, winning the last four points in a row.

As if the first set weren't strange enough--in the second set, Oudin played much better and delivered a 6-0 score. I wondered out loud what fans following the match via electronic scoreboard must have been thinking. The third set was obviously up for grabs, and Dementieva raised her level of play just enough to take it, 6-3.

The second match today featured Bethanie Matek-Sands and Ekaterina Makarova, who was substituted for Alla Kudryattseva. This was not only the best match of the day, but the best match of the semifinal, and featured some fine rallies and good shot-making by both players. Mattek-Sands skillfully took the first set 6-4, but was dominated by Makarova in the second. Winning the second set 6-2, Makarova then faded in the third, which Mattek-Sands won 6-3. Mattek-Sands was successful almost every time she went to the net, which was often, and she hit some pretty impressive winners on the run.

The doubles rubber was really the Liezel and Bethanie Show. Dementieva has not played doubles in a long time, and it showed. She and partner Alla Kudryattseva were not exactly helpless against the USA team, but they offered little resistance. Huber served really well, and she and Mattek-Sands are skillful on all parts of the court. Despite the one-sided nature of this match, it was nevertheless entertaining, largely because of Huber's animated shot-making. She and Mattek-Sands work quite well together as a doubles team. The USA won, 6-3, 6-1.

Can we please just talk about tennis?

Liezel Huber uses every opportunity to remind people that she is an American citizen. "I chose to play for the U.S. I think, in a way, I'm a prouder American than some people because I haven't always had the U.S.," Huber told The Birmingham News. I understand that sentiment, I suppose, but Huber really knows how to lay it on:

Coming to this land of opportunity, I'm so grateful. Coming with a suitcase and a dream and here I am today. This country has offered me so much that you will see during this week that I am the proudest American that you will meet. It gives me goose bumps every time to be representing my country and be on a team.

Perhaps Huber's rhetoric wouldn't grate on me so much if it didn't have (for me) some other contexts. In Charleston, she said she once felt she didn't belong because she was from a third world country. That's true, technically, but I wish she hadn't said it. Now, in Birmingham, her comments come at the same time that one of her teammates, Melanie Oudin, had to say about team membership, "It really shows who really cares about their country and who wants to play for more than themselves." 

It is entirely possible that these comments were made in isolation and that no reference was consciously made to players who are not on the team. But the results, PR-wise, are unfortunate. I should also add--for the sake of clarity--that while I certainly wish the USA team well, and will be in the stands in Birmingham, I am disturbed when national pride crosses over into chauvinism, as it seems to do more and more.

I have written, on several occasions, that I think the USA Fed Cup team needs to let go of its fixation on the Williams sisters, and move on. Mary Joe Fernandez has done a really good job with Oudin, Bethanie Mattek-Sands, Huber and other team members. I also appreciate how exciting it must be for those team members to have played in the final last year, and to be in a semifinal in 2010. I just wish everyone would keep the conversation focused on tennis.

When Melanie Mania goes wrong

The crowd in Charleston loves Melanie Oudin, and who could--or should--expect otherwise? But last night, that crowd showed its ugly side.

Booing the umpire and linespeople when they made calls that went against Oudin was not exactly mature, but it also is just one of those things that happens when sports fans get excited. However, booing Oudin's opponent, Vera Zvonareva, when she asked the chair umpire to ask  people not to clap during points, is another matter entirely.

Does the crowd really believe that Oudin wants them to clap during points? Both politeness and common sense dictate that the players require as little distraction as possible when they are serving and when they are involved in rallies.

Earlier in the week, Julia Goerges--who happened to be playing American Bethanie Mattek-Sands--questioned a line call on the Althea Gibson Club Court, and--after a bit of discussion--a man in the stands yelled at her "Stop whining and play!" But she wasn't "whining." She was making a case, and in the course of doing so, she was trying to make a living. Pro tennis is a recreational activity for the fans, but for the players, it's a job. They should be allowed to do it without interference from spectators.

Oudin into Family Circle Cup quarterfinals

Melanie Oudin possesses an air of all business when she's one the court, even if she's just walking from one end to the other. Like the young Chris Evert, Oudin seems older than she actually is, because of her intensity. But whereas Evert's intensity was internal, Oudin's is on display most of the time. She looks wound--but not too tightly.

Oudin got a bit of a workout today in her first set against Christina McHale, who found herself in the third round when Victoria Azarenka retired against her. McHale gave Oudin all she could handle for a while, but then the 13th seed took control, and defeated McHale 6-4, 6-0. It was a good tournament for the qualifier, who drew quite a bit of crowd support while she was in Charleston.

Vera Zvonareva, seeded 7th, defeated 9th seed Alona Bondarenko 6-2, 6-1. Sam Sumyk, who used to be Zvonareva's coach and is now Azarenka's coach, was on hand to advise her. Zvonareva doesn't have a coach right now, and--since Azarenka retired with an injury--Sumyk stayed in town to help Zvonareva. The Russian star says that she is more interested in fitness right now, and wants to return to her former level before she thinks about getting a coach. She told me that she has a number of Russian hitting partners, and that she may wind up choosing one of them as her coach.

Marion Bartoli was spotted in the stands today, watching Daniela Hantuchova, who went at it for over two hours and 44 minutes against Angelique Kerber on the Althea Gibson Club Court. Hantuchova won 6-7, 7-5, 6-3, and was none too pleased to learn that she is scheduled to play first tomorrow.

2nd seed Jelena Jankovic and 6th seed Nadia Petrova had straight set wins over Evgeniya Rodina and 12th seed Aleksandra Wozniack, respectively. It wasn't quite as easy for 4th seed Sam Stosur, however. Stosur won her first set 6-1 against Vera Dushevina, but Dushevina, seeded 14th, took control of the second set and an error-prone Stosur, and won the second set 6-3. It didn't take long for Stosur to regain control, though, and she posted another 6-1 win in the third set.

10th seed Elena Vesnina was upset 7-6, 2-6, 6-2 by her Charleston doubles partner, Peng Shuai. Vesnina and Peng later withdrew from doubles competition because of the Russian's left adductor muscle strain. Vesnina had the same thigh wrapped last year in Charleston, and because of it, she and her partner retired after their first quarterfinal set in 2009.

Azarenka retires in her first Charleston match

Victoria Azarenka, the 3rd seed in Charleston, won her first set against Christina McHale this morning in the Family Circle Cup Stadium. However, at 6-2, 2-2, Azarenka retired because of the hamstring injury that caused her to retire in the Marbella quarterfinals last week.

Also retiring was Ayumi Morita, who sustained a left adductor muscle strain while she was playing Daniela Hantuchova. The match ended with Hantuchova leading 6-4, 2-0. And though she finished the match, Bethanie Mattek-Sands began cramping in both thighs in her third set against 9th seed Alona Bondarenko. Bondarenko won, 4-6, 7-5, 7-5.

Top seed Caroline Wozniacki advanced to the third round with a straight set win over Barbora Zahlavova Strycova, and 6th seed Nadia Petrova advanced with a straight set win over Vania King.

An enthusiastic Australian crowd was on hand to deliver cries of "Aussie Aussie Aussie, Oi oi oi!" during Sophie Ferguson's match, but their enthusiasm wasn't enough to get Ferguson past Melanie Oudin. The 13th seed won, 6-2, 6-4, and thereby booked a date with countrywoman Christina McHale in the third round.

In doubles action, Ekaterina Dzehalevich and Olga Savchuk led 3rd seeds Lisa Raymond and Rennae Stubbs 5-0, 40-0 in the first round. At that point, Raymond and Stubbs began to turn things around a bit, though Dzehalevich and Savchuk took the first set 6-3. Raymond and Stubbs then became much more aggressive, and took the second set 6-1. But Dzehalevich and Savchuk made the super-tiebreak a dramatic one, saving three consecutive match points at 6-9, and then saving a fourth match point before losing the tiebreak 10-12.

Mattek-Sands recovered from the cramping episode and played her first round doubles match with partner Yan Zi. The third seeds defeated Oudin and Shenay Perry 6-3, 6-4.

Miscellany

Yanina Wickmayer's father says that if she isn't scheduled to play singles, Wickmayer won't be at Belgium's Fed Cup match against Estonia. Wickmayer, it should be noted, says it doesn't matter to her--that she plans to be there to support her team, no matter what.

Anna Kournikova talks with Peter Bodo about her life.

Sam Stosur is cross-dominant, and eats with her left hand.

Melanie Oudin is the first U.S. woman to commit to playing on the USA Fed Cup squad next month in the semifinal against Russia.

ESPN is making a documentary on the Evert-Navratilova rivalry.