Cinderella Story Comes To An End for 17yr Old

Last night the clock struck 12:00 on the Cinderella story that was Melanie Oudin. After her recent run at US Open she has become America’s tennis princess. Oudin, 17, has become a household name at the U.S. Open, upsetting Elena Dementieva, Maria Sharapova and Nadia Petrova. ‘’I can compete with these top girls," Oudin said after defeating Sharapova. "And if I believe in myself, and my game, then I can beat them.’’ Very poised for a young player.

The story was both on the court and off as her "unscheduled" winning streak made her stay in New York last a little longer then anyone would have thought...especially whom ever represents her and books her accommodations. For a short time on Sunday, she had no place to stay. The 17-year-old and her family were forced to leave the Marriott Times Square hotel this weekend after their reservation had ended. Since nobody expected Oudin to still be playing in the second week of the tournament no extension was ever requested. She was quickly found new accommodations but not a distraction that a 17 year old needs in the middle of an unexpected Major Championship run.

On the tennis side of things she didn’t have any of the same difficulties. Oudin is the youngest American woman in the U.S. Open quarterfinals since Serena Williams a decade ago. It is not like she has had a free pass by any means either knocking off some pretty big names in the process. Maybe being so young was a good thing as maybe she was able to just go out and play and not have to think about what was happening. You can play much looser and much more free when there isn’t any pressure on you...a luxury that she will likely no longer have. She has opened the eyes of many people and the expectations have increased substantially in a very short period of time.

Oudin run was halted by ninth seeded 19yr old Caroline Wozniacki of Denmark in the quarterfinals 6–2, 6–2 Wednesday night. It was cool after the match during the interviews that they said basically - we don’t usually talk to the looser, but this is no looser- an interesting way to start an interview for sure. After talking with her the spoke with Wozniacki, who did just a great job playing to the interviewer and the crowd. She basically said I know that everyone here wasn’t rooting against me but rooting for Melanie, and she hoped that in the process that she won some people over and that they would root for her in her next match, which they probably will. It was a great interview and showed that she was not only a good player but a good person and a great winner.

It is great to have those stories along with some good tennis, especially on the woman's side. With Sharapova now gone and my little interest in either of the Williams sisters (Serena more so, she just bugs the crap out of me). Federer and Nadal may be on course to collide with each other on the men's so that is always great. It really makes for a more compelling tournament when you can have great action on the court and the coming out party of a young player, especially a young American at the US Open.

Around The Horn

I don’t know if I should be more impressed with the news that LA Kings Centre Jarret Stoll as reportedly broken off his wedding to Rachel Hunter or the fact that he did it by email. Not knowing the inter workings of the relationship you have to figure that Stoll either has something even better on the horizon but to drop a bomb like that by email is a ballsy move. The only saving grace is that he didn’t do it by Twitter.

The United States made soccer history when they stunned the No. 1 ranked team in the world making the finals of the Confederations Cup with a victory over the Spain. Maybe it is the "Miracle on Grass" maybe not, If this is what it takes for the US to care about soccer then this victory greatly upsets me. I have little or no respect for anything that may, in any way promote this game. I know that America is very patriotic about anything that makes them feel big and mighty but they need to just forget about this one for the greater good....soccer sucks.
Shaquille O’Neal is headed to the Cleveland Cavaliers. The Big ‘Shaq-tus’ is headed from Phoenix to Cleveland to be a big man that LeBron can work with in his quest to win a championship. Does he have anything left? Good question, but it is interesting to see how many more big deals will be made before or during tonight's draft.

Wimbledon is in full force and Roger Federer is looking to surpass Pete Samprass at the All England Club. In sad news Russian Maria Sharapova was ousted early. Watching her match, the talk of curbing the level and volume of grunting clearly hasn’t filtered down to the players (Maria managed to turn up the volume to a staggering 101db during her first-round). I figure that a little yelling and grunting on shots isn’t too bad. However it should be outlawed on the men’s side.
Lance Armstrong’s bike was stolen some time ago and just recently the verdict came down for the punishment for this crime. 40-year-old Lee Crider is to be sentenced to three years in prison for burglary and theft.---Dante Stallworth hit and killed a pedestrian while being intoxicated...he got sentenced to 30 DAYS in jail, Mike Vick is already out of the pen for his involvement in the dog fighting ring. That is some even justice system.

A March To History?

The French Open may not have the storybook final that we all might want pitting Roger Federer against his nemesis Rafael Nadal who was eliminated in the fourth round but there is reason to watch. The player that ousted Nadal - Robin Soderling has made it to the finals in a run of epic proportions. If he is able to pull one more rabbit out of his hat and take out Federer it will be one of the greatest runs at the French Open, if not of all the majors ever.

That being said if Federer can manage to pull it all together and take this elusive title he will take that one big leap to becoming the greatest of all time and not only finally gather his own personal Grand Slam and bring him that 1 step closer to overtaking Peter Sampras’s record. A win will tie Sampras with 14 Grand Slams and make Federer only the 6th playerever to complete a career Grand Slam.

Soderling has done Federer a big favor in his defeat of Nadal but he can’t take anything for granted and not take the match lightly as Soderling has made it to the finals for a reason...he is playing some good tennis. Roger did make a major statement in his last tournament, a clay court tournament in which he won and proved that he can in fact win on this surface.

Nay sayers will tell you that a victory at Roland Garros for Federer should come with an astrix denoting that it was not earned versus Nadal and there for doesn’t carry the full weight or should not carry the same accolades but a Grand Slam title is still just that, a Grand Slam. Sunday will prove to be very interesting and history will be made one way or another but a Federer win could be the storey of the tennis year...except for Maria Sharapova coming back to competition.

Around The Horn

President Obama welcomed the National Champion North Carolina Tar Heals basketball team to the White House. Earlier in the year Obama scrimmaged with the players during a campaign visit to Chapel Hill and then went on to pick them to win it all in his bracket. Obama stated “I’m not sure whose luck rubbed off on who.” and thanked them “for salvaging my bracket and vindicating me before the entire nation.” Obama is known to play a little round ball and is apparently pretty good at it. Even though he is from Chicago he clearly has some fondness for the Tar Heals. I wonder who was more excited about the visit, Roy Williams and his team or the President himself?

A message to Kenyon Martin, apparently “yo momma” isn’t safe from the trash talk any more then you are. Mark Cuban’s latest outburst had a verbal altercation with Kenyon Martin’s mom. Apparently a fan yelled out that the Denver Nuggets were “thugs” and that he told her “That includes your son.” Another version of the story as presented by Martin’s agents stated that Cuban said to Martin’s mom “Your son is a punk,” and he claimed that that comment was unprovoked. There are always 3 sides to every story...his version, her version and the truth. Whichever one you choose to believe it is still funny.

Maria Sharapova plans to be back on tour next week. She had been sidelined by shoulder surgery but plans to play her first competitive tournament in nearly 10 months on the clay-court tournament in Warsaw, Poland.
Finally I can start paying some attention to woman’s tennis again.

Vikings president says team still assessing Favre situation. How is this issue even in the news?
Only 2 question...why is this still news and should we even care? The on-again-off-again saga on Brett Favre will wind up doing him more harm then good. His legacy won’t be hurt on the merits of what he does or doesn’t do on the field through production or jumping from 1 team to another...players more and that is the way the NFL is set up. It is the Soap Opera that is so mind numbing and aggravating to fans and surely has to be hurting him in the court of public opinion. Stay, Go whatever but just end it once and for all.

All England boots out Russian

Sadley Wimbledon has come to an end for me as Alla Kudryavtseva defeated Maria Sharapova on Thursday. No sly remarks this time, no backhanded compliments just a homage to Maria and her less then traditional outfit at this years tournament. I now will look forward to the US Open I suppose. Stay classy tennis champion.