A disappointing 3-6, 6-3, 6-0 first-round loss to Italy’s unheralded Roberta Vinci at the BNP Paribas Open is proof that, despite her early-career success, Melanie Oudin still has a lot to learn.
“This year is definitely a learning year for me,” said the Georgian, who is now ranked No. 41. “Such a big thing happened for me at the U.S. Open. I still have a lot to learn about tennis and a lot to learn about my game. Just because I had that great tournament doesn’t mean that I know everything now. I’m still learning and I still have a lot to improve. Once I get more matches and more experience and learn more about my game and what kind of player I am, then everything’s going to come together.”
Oudin, who chalked up her loss to Vinci as “a bad day at the office,” struggled to get out of the gates this year with first-round defeats in Hobart and Melbourne, but found her game in time to score a pair of wins in leading the U.S. past host France in Fed Cup play. Despite a sinus infection, she followed that with a semifinal showing in Paris and a quarterfinal finish in Memphis.
“After the Australian, I was back home. I trained hard and got my mentality back as far as playing tennis for the love of the game,” she said. “I’ve always played tennis because I love it. I kind of lost that a little bit after the Open, with everything going on. That’s the main thing when I go on the court. I have to always remember that.”
The 18-year-old from Marietta is now half a year removed from her fresh-faced-kid-makes-good run in Flushing Meadows, where she toppled four Russian en route to her first Grand Slam quarterfinal. And those six months have clearly provided some perspective.
“The Open was something that I’ve never had to go through. All the attention —everything. It was a lot for me to handle, but now that I’ve gone through that, I know exactly what to expect next time,” said Oudin. “But I really learned that I belong here, that I belong playing these tournaments with the top players in the world. I’m a good competitor. It’s just that experience that I have to get that’s going to help me win the close matches.”
