Melanie Oudin Tennis Outfit

Melanie Oudin has caught the imagination of the American public with her outstanding success in defeating Open Series winner Elena Dementieva and former winner Maria Sharapova at the US Open last year, backing up a superb run at Wimbledon where she overcame former world No. 1 Jelena Jankovic - and she was only 17!

The women's game in the US has relied on the Williams sisters to bring in the silverware for many years now, but Melanie's recent performances have been good enough to encourage many to believe that she could be doing the same in the immediate future.

The way she plays has impressed as well: the women's game has been criticized as being two-dimensional, with hard straight hitting being the order of the day, but Melanie has perhaps the best rounded game in women's tennis today. She plays a variety of shots that would impress Andy Murray or Manuel Santoro. Andy Roddick has already played some exhibition mixed doubles with her and has expressed his approval that her style is a breath of fresh air.

Thanks to Pat Gavin at Flickr

Unlike many of the top women players like the Williams sisters, Sharapova, Safina, Ivanovic, Petrova etc, she's small in stature, but counters this disadvantage with speed around the court, aggression, guile and perhaps most importantly - she's rock-solid mentally. Many of her contemporaries seem to specialize in folding under pressure, but this weakness almost never affects Melanie.

Her coach Brian de Villiers sums up Melanie's toughness, referring to her leg injury during the Dementieva match, that she'd play on one leg if needed rather than quit. With an attitude like that, Melanie won't be found wanting when facing more powerful but brittle opposition.

Melanie's racquet, the Wilson K Blade Tour 93

Melanie wears the same tennis clothing as Dinara Safina and Justine Henin the adidas Competition range. She's chosen adidas to supply her tennis outfits and Wilson to give her some of the best tennis racquets available today. Wilson caters to the Williams sisters' racquet needs as well as Roger Federer so she's in good company. The particular racquet in the range is the Wilson (K) Blade Tour designed to meet the exacting demands of the world's best players.

 
adidas Competition Top

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