I ask the question "Is Melanie Oudin committed to tennis anymore?" because of her recent results, and what I witnessed today.
Melanie Oudin has fallen to 166th in the world rankings, she is no longer a regular participant on the WTA circuit, and is an afterthought of being chosen for Fed Cup duties. This week Melanie is playing in the ITF 100k event in Midland, Michigan. She lost her first round match on Tuesday evening to Stephanie Foretz-Gacon in straight sets. I did not see her singles match, but I did get to witness her play doubles today with partner Jamie Hampton. I could not believe what I saw when she took off her warmups. She had a nice size tummy, and bigger arms that were not well defined. She wasn't even close to looking as fit as I remember seeing her on television making a run at the U.S. Open, or even when she was a regular on the WTA tour. There was one point during the match where it was an overhead lob on Oudin's side of the court she jumped to try a overhead smash, but came up about 6 inches short. Her vertical leap rivaled my 77 year old grandfather's on his worst day. Oudin and Hampton ended up defeating Kustova and Scholl, but Hampton carried the team. Oudin looked extremely rusty and definitely overweight.
It seems that her recent misgivings have pushed her into a depression where she packed on some pounds, or she just doesn't care about getting back to where she once was, and doesn't want to put in the work to get fit and fulfill her lofty expectations.
The expectations put upon her are not her fault. I remember reading an article by a respected longtime tennis journalist saying, "America has found its version of Justine Henin". This was right after her amazing U.S. Open run where she pulled off upset after upset in a surprising deep run. This wasn't fair, even I knew that a few of them matches were pure luck and she was in the zone them few days. She doesn't have an overpowering game and must use deception and consistency to win. She needs fitness, which is severely lacking at this point in time.
So those of you wanting and waiting for Melanie Oudin will be back in the top 20, please don't hold your breath. It seems like she is rock bottom right now. She is not playing well, and she does not even look close to being in match shape.
She can only go up from here, will Melanie Oudin fight from the depths and make a charge at the top again?
NO WAY!! STICK A FORK IN HER, SHE'S DONE!!
Thursday, February 9, 2012
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