Before the U.S. Open tennis tournament, Melanie Oudin designed a tennis shoe for Adidas with the word "believe" stamped on her heels. That should tell you a lot about her fighting spirit. The 17-year-old set a goal for herself at the beginning of the year to make it into the main draw of the U.S. Open. She did. But the 5' 6", 130 pound ball of tenacity wasn't content to simply show up. Once she made it into the draw, it was time to fight.
She won her first round match. In the second round, she shocked the tennis world by defeating Elena Dementieva, who was seeded number four. Oudin's belief grew. Then she knocked former number one player in the world, Maria Sharapova, out of the tournament and not only did Melanie's belief grow, but ours did too.
Check out this video on YouTube, shot by somebody who was in the crowd. It's the last point of the match; pay special attention to the left side of screen--when a woman shouts "We believe" and see if doesn't give you goosebumps. Then watch what belief looks like when the crowd reacts to Oudin's win.
Most recently, Oudin came from behind to beat Nadia Petrova, the ninth seeded player, to make it to the quarterfinals. Who knows where her run will end? Personally, I'd like to see her win it all. Imagine how the crowd would react if that happened.
