Melanie Oudin Flying High at US Open

NEW YORK -- This is the picture of pure joy. Pure. Nothing has beaten it down. Nothing has attacked its psyche, not to mention the shoulder or knees.

Melanie Oudin's arms in the air, an American teenager/giant killer with fresh mind and body, having dropped her racquet to the court after beating Maria Sharapova in the U.S. Open Saturday. She is screaming and her eyes are wide, wide open.

What does it feel like when you cannot even imagine the moment you're actually in?

"I mean, I was crying, I was so happy and excited," Oudin said. "I think I'm pretty sure I screamed after I hit that last shot."

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You think? You don't remember screaming?

"I'm trying to remember," she said. "That moment, it's so crazy. Just a million things going through your mind. You know, the crowd was like, roaring. Just everything imaginable."

We have a new American teen sensation, a new American tennis sweetheart, though this one apparently comes with fangs.

Oudin did it again Saturday, beating Sharapova 3-6, 6-4, 7-5. On Monday, she did it again, beating No. 13 Nadia Petrova 1-6, 7-6 (2), 6-3.

She is short. She doesn't have a big serve. But she just keeps chopping away anyway. This can happen only in a major championship, where the tennis world can change in 14 days. It has changed now maybe for the women's game, and definitely for Oudin, who has a clear path to the finals. Even No. 1 Dinara Safina cleared out of her way, losing late Saturday night.
We have a new American teen sensation, a new American tennis sweetheart, though this one apparently comes with fangs.
But it's a two-sided coin as to how Oudin keeps knocking down these top players. She seems to have no fear, yes. But why is she able to out-guts the world's best players?

That's not just a commentary on her.

Oudin is hitting women's tennis in its soft spot. And by that, I'm talking about its brain and heart.

The Williams sisters, Clijsters and Oudin. That's it for the women's game.

I thought Sharapova had guts, too. And in some ways, she does. But that serve is not just the result of recovering from shoulder surgery.

You do not double-fault 21 times in one match, as Sharapova did, from shoulder rehab. Not this many months in.

True, to protect her shoulder, she has switched to the new -- and fraudulent -- abbreviated motion. And she has never found the timing.

But 21 double faults?

Sharapova said she wasn't able to slow down her swing on the second serve, that she couldn't hit it under 95 mph. So it was out of control, and she spent the match trying to slow down her swing.

Let me put it this way: Her serve is a mess. Her head, on her serve, is a mess.

What a disgrace the women have been in this Open, supposedly standing as an example to young girls. Instead, their example has been to become emotional and fall apart.

That's the beauty of Oudin. In the quarters, she could face French champ Svetlana Kuznetsova, one of the tour's biggest chokers.

What did a kid tell herself while she was beating Sharapova?

"Keep it up," she said.

Which is roughly the opposite of what the rest of the women have been thinking: "Make it stop."

Oudin beat No. 4 Elena Dementieva here. At Wimbledon, she beat Jelena Jankovic, who started the year No. 1.

Jankovic blamed the loss on having her period, saying she was dizzy, and that Oudin had no weapons.

"Shocking," Sharapova said, sarcastically ripping Jankovic. "Shocking that she would say that."

Sharapova said Oudin has plenty of weapons, including foot speed.

What does Oudin think?

"The biggest weapon can be mental toughness," she said. "It doesn't have to be a stroke or a shot or anything like that. If you're mentally tough out there, then you can beat anyone."

Boy, did she just describe the Open.

Well, Sharapova has been saying all summer that her mixed results were fine, that it was part of the recovery and rehab of her shoulder. But this time, she was clearly disappointed. The draw had opened up for her, too, as top seeds kept panicking their way into elimination, and she seemed headed for the final.

"It's frustrating because you work so hard to get to a certain point," she said. "I feel like I've had a good enough summer. I could have definitely performed better [Saturday]."

In an odd revival of the Cold War, your next American teen sensation has now beaten three Russians, and figures to play three more to get to the final.

Russian players have been the talk the past few years, and there was some thought not long ago that they would take over. The game has been waiting, with the Williams sisters keeping it warm, for some American to come along.

Oudin, from Georgia, is now ranked No. 70 in her rookie year, and that's going to go way up. Her goal for the year?

"To get in the top 50," she said. "But if I play like this, hopefully I can get as high as anything."

She's flying pretty high already.

Check back later for my Monday column on Oudin's victory. Email me at gregcouch09@aol.com