Melanie Oudin was the media darling of the 2009 US Open when she became the youngest American player to advance to the tournament quarterfinals in 10 years. Her thrilling run was accompanied by the word "believe" on her adidas Barricade shoes she personally designed through miadidas.com. For this year’s US Open Oudin chose the word "courage" for her new pair of Barricade 6.0’s.

You know how people love these success stories, so all eyes will be on the 18-year-old Oudin during the 2010 US Open. She will surely need a lot of courage to bare the pressure. Fellow tennis blogger Diane wrote a nice article about the high expectations and Melanie Mania.

In 2010 Oudin has had good runs only in Paris (semifinals), Memphis (quarterfinals), Ponte Vedra Beach (quarterfinals), and Charleston (quarterfinals). She lost in the first or second round of all the other tournaments, including the five US Open Series tournaments she played.

Watch where you’re stepping – that’s what we can learn from Serena Williams’ situation, as the 13-time Grand Slam champion and three-time US Open champion won’t be able to compete at this year’s US Open because she still hasn’t recovered from the foot injury she sustained at a restaurant in July, when she stepped on broken glass.

The world No.1 said that missing the tournament is one of the most devastating moments of her career. She hasn’t played competitive tennis since winning Wimbledon.

Williams’ withdrawal means that world No.2 Caroline Wozniacki will be the top seed at the 2010 US Open. (via Craig Hickman's Tennis Blog, photo: sr_cranks)

Former world No.4 Jelena Dokic has been making it big on the ITF circuit lately, winning three straight tournaments this summer: in Romania, France and Canada. In the Vancouver final this month Dokic defeated former Top 20 player Virginie Razzano 6-1 6-4.

At the beginning of the season Dokic was ranked No.57, but later slipped to No.136. Now that the Australian has won 15 straight matches her ranking is No.82 and her win-loss record is 22-10.

Dokic will play qualifying for the US Open and I'm really excited to see how she will perform in the main draw (when she hopefully gets there). I miss the 2009 Australian Open. (via Tennis Served Fresh, photo: twenty90seven)

Caroline Wozniacki has been wearing nice adidas by Stella McCartney dresses but you can’t distinguish one from another and a while ago she promised something exclusive for the 2010 US Open. Browsing the Internet I came across the dress the Dane is supposed to wear at the final Grand Slam of the year.

At first glance the outfit looks plain ugly, in my opinion at least. It reminds me of a bad choice worn to a club. But, I’m a huge believer in Stella McCartney’s taste, and I’m sure the dress will look good on Caroline and in action.

What do you think?

And yes, there is also the white version of the dress, as well as a green and gray one which is the most beautiful. The official name of the piece is Stella McCartney Tennis Performance Dress.

Update: as our reader Cara says, the what I called green and gray dress is actually the black night dress with the new Yellow Stella Sports Bra. Haha it looked green and gray to me.

Thanks to Jim from KEF Media I had another opportunity to interview Lindsay Davenport, even though I was on vacation at the time. I prepared some questions and Jim forwarded one of them to Lindsay and added one question of his own.

My question was the following: "Kim Clijsters had a historic victory last year at the US Open, what do you think her prospects are this time?" The other question is regarding the importance of the US Open Series in getting players ready for the US Open. Listen to what Lindsay had to say.

Once again, thanks Lindsay and Jim for cooperating with me!

Ana Ivanovic has confirmed her adidas outfit for the US Open. It’s the same dress she's currently wearing, again with optional leggings, only that the new color scheme is pink. The official name of the dress is adidas Women's Fall Ana adilibria Dress.

Ana’s fist pump doesn’t look that energetic in the picture, like she knew she would lose in the first round of the Mercury Insurance Open in San Diego. Shahar Peer defeated her 7-6(3) 6-3. Peer had only two break points in the match, and converted just one, but it was enough to beat Ivanovic. (source: Down the Line)

Serena Williams has recently announced she needed foot surgery to repair the damage done to her foot when she stepped on broken glass at a restaurant. It was confirmed then that the world No.1 would miss three tournaments leading up to the US Open, but the latest news coming out of the mouth of tour spokesman Andrew Walker is that Serena’s appearance at the final Grand Slam of the year is questionable as well.

Serena's recent tweets tell us she can't wait to get back to playing tennis:

hi guys! thanks for all the get well wishes. it really means a lot can't wait to get out of bed & back on the courts & do what i do best!

Hey guys I'm doing better. Thanks for all the love.

i am having a tough few days. my mm and friends have been taking good care of me. i hoe to be bak on the our soon. i miss playing…

love my crew taking care o me after surgery notice my dogs sooo cute

(source: ESPN, photo: sr_cranks)

Justine Henin injured her right elbow during the fourth-round defeat by fellow Belgian Kim Clijsters at Wimbledon and will not play tennis for about two months. The break will affect her participation in the "Best of Belgium" exhibition match in Brussels against Clijsters on July 8 (Henin will only attend the event) and, more importantly, the seven-time Grand Slam champion will have to miss the US Open which starts August 30. The former world No.1’s diagnosis is partial ligament fracture at the right elbow. (photo: Ralf Reinecke)