The Melanie Oudin story now goes from wow to oh no.
Hours after the 17-year-old finished her dramatic run to the quarterfinals of the U.S. Open tennis tournament Wednesday night, Sports Illustrated reported on its website, SI.com, that her father was divorcing her mother on the grounds that her mother had had an affair with her coach.
It broke just after midnight, Eastern time, just after most of the stories and columns had been written and filed and put on newspaper pages and in websites about her loss to Denmark's Caroline Wozniacki.
Most said she had a promising future. Most waxed eloquently about how well she played, how hard she tried, what a nice story this was about such a normal young athlete with a normal-seeming family.
All the nice things about her remain accurate and worth saying.
But once again, the adults have apparently found a way to wreck things for the kids.
Before this became public, there would be no asterisks next to what Oudin achieved. No slants, few downsides. Just praise for hard work and a job well done, under great pressure on a very public stage.
Now, that will come with rolled eyes. Scandal attracts better than success.
Parents going through a divorce is one thing. Tennis has that, just as in all walks of life. Rafael Nadal's parents are going through that, and he is pretty much left alone to deal with it as he wants, despite the public nature of what he does.
But when the charge is adultery and those charged are the mother and the coach, it's just too juicy for the public to shrug and remember only backhands and forehands.
In retrospect, once she had started her U.S. Open run and was the subject of massive media coverage, it would have been smart for the family to call a news conference and tell all right up front. That might have taken the edge off those in the media who now feel duped for buying into this Mayberry story.
It won't be long until some of Melanie's quotes are unearthed, especially the one about how her coach, Brian de Villiers, "has been like a second father for me."
U.S. tennis officials will greet this story with consternation as well. Last year, according to SI.com, DeVilliers was named U.S. Olympic Committee Developmental Coach of the Year.
He probably deserved it. But with it, and his position as a teacher and role model, came the responsibility for some disclosure, especially once his star pupil became an overnight celebrity.
John and Leslie Oudin are progressing toward this divorce. The SI.com story says the first divorce filing was in July 2008, more than a year ago. The SI.com story says that, according to court documents, there is an agreement that Leslie not have any contact with De Villiers unless it has to do directly with her daughter's tennis. The story also says the Leslie denied the allegations in her response to her husband's complaint.
Besides Melanie and her twin sister, the Oudins have one more daughter.
The story of Melanie Oudin story was supposed to end Wednesday night. She lost a tennis match, but the story certainly wasn't about a loser. It was about a winner who could become an even bigger one as she goes forward.
But Wednesday's story has already started to morph into Thursday's eyebrow-raiser, and Melanie Oudin's run at the U.S. Open will now be discussed in terms of what she overcame, dealt with, had to handle to while doing it.
The story of dysfunctional tennis parents is an old one, always ongoing. Mom being with coach, if it is true, is probably not even a new angle.
But the timing of this news couldn't be worse for a young tennis player who deserves better.
And with it comes nothing but sadness for the way it now will invade the wonderful Melanie Oudin story.
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