After a dreadful year of losing, losing and more losing, Melanie Oudin won a match at the French Open for the first time in her career Sunday, beating Johanna Larsson, 6-3 6-3.
The 20-year-old American once seen as the country's tennis savior says she's starting to play and feel like a pro again.
Now, if she could just find someone to share the Boca Raton, Fla., apartment she leased with fellow American pros Alison Riske and Shelby Rogers.
"I'm currently still paying rent," she said. "You would think that a lot of people would be interested. I feel like I need to start putting posters up and put it on Facebook."
Oudin moved to Boca Raton last fall after she split up with her long-time coach, Brian de Villiers. The plan was to train at the US Tennis Association's academy, but she wasn't comfortable there and moved to New York to train at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in Flushing, home of the US Open.
She's currently living with a Westchester family -- they have a child who attends the training center -- and working with USTA coaches Jorge Todero and Jay Gooding.
"They've been really great at helping my confidence," Oudin said. "I was putting so much pressure on myself."
How far had Oudin's confidence fallen? Of the 14 WTA main-draw matches that she completed from last April until this year's French Open, Oudin had 13 losses and just one victory -- and that victory came via retirement.
Her ranking, once as high as No. 31, was No. 269 prior to this tournament.
But last month she won a small tournament in Charlottesville, Va., and there she was Sunday in Paris, looking like she belonged and swinging freely, even as she neared the end of the match.
"I played some really, really good points, better than I've played in a long time," Oudin said. She'll play Sara Errani, an Italian with clay-court expertise, in the second round.
