Bud working with Tom Rinaldi for ESPN
NEW YORK – “Dream big!” has been the outlook of the Fair Maid Melanie of Marietta, Georgia and she made it stand up for longer than anyone could have imagined.
She was a duplicate Dorothy, 5-foot-5, carrying a tennis racket, and New York became her Oz. Millions of us fell for her, and she responded in an improbable run to the quarter-finals of the US Open. For a week the Big Apple was hers as she made apple sauce of four Russians who were bigger, stronger and higher ranked on the world scene. continue reading »
September 09 2009 | US Open | 3 Comments »
Broken Obelisk by Barnett Newman at the Museum of Modern Art
NEW YORK – Clean, free laundry every day. That was one of the topics as the first week of the US Open faded into another of it’s lovely daily sunsets.
But the sun has yet to set on the wonder child of the Open, who keeps washing tough, towering adversaries out of her golden hair with unfailing swings of her tennis racket.
Who knew of her a few days ago? But now she’s a headline honey – Melanie the Fair Maid of Marietta (Georgia).
What has Melanie Jennings Oudin got against Russians? The Cold War is over, but she made it too hot yesterday for the Siberian Siren, Maria Sharapova, just as she had for Elena Dementieva in the second round, and Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova in the first. continue reading »
September 05 2009 | US Open | 5 Comments »
New York City buildings
NEW YORK – So I look at my watch, and it says 2:04 PM, Thursday September 3. And I say, “Are you sure? You mean it’s only the fourth day of the US Open, and my pick for the women’s title is heading for the airport. Next stop – Moscow.
Last stop – Flushing Meadows, second round, where the world’s No. 4 tennis player, Elena Dementieva, got off while about 20,000 homebodies in a canyon called Arthur Ashe Stadium vigorously cheered her departure. It was nothing personal – none of the bygone, stale Cold War stuff. No, it was just the joyful improbability of a little kid out of Georgia knocking off a highly experienced 6-foot Russian. continue reading »
September 03 2009 | US Open | 1 Comment »
