Melanie Oudin – The New Darling of Tennis

Tennis has a new darling – and at a time when the sport really could use an infusion of fresh! Seventeen year old Melanie Oudin from Marietta, Georgia is burning up the courts at the U.S. Open this week, starting the tournament off with a ranking of 70 and now qualified to the quarterfinals defeating Kazakhstan’s 21-year old Yaraslova Shvedova in three hard-fought, endless sets 3-6, 6-2, 6-4.

Melanie Oudin is the youngest American woman to make it to the quarterfinals of America’s Grand Slam in 10 years – since Serena Williams did in 1999. And Melanie is also the youngest woman still in the US Open tournament as of now.

Melanie appeared on the Good Morning America show today saying  “Anything can happen. There’s no stopping me now I think and I’m just going to keep playing the way I play, and fighting hard, and I think that’s the best you can do.” Below is a clip from the press conference at the US Open:

Melanie plays again on Wednesday, September 9 in the Quarterfinals.