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NEW YORK -- It seems funny when fairy tales end with heroes living happily ever after. I mean, really? Ever after? Are we supposed to believe that?
You wouldn't know this, but the year after Cinderella and the Prince got married, they were supposed to go back to the annual ball, but the Prince had let himself go, and really just wanted to watch football with his buddies. Meanwhile, Cinderella, saying they don't get out enough, kept asking if her new dress made her look fat.
Ever after. It's an interesting concept, and that's where Melanie Oudin lives now.
It isn't going well.
She returned to the U.S. Open Monday, where she was the teen sensation in 2009, coming from nowhere to reach the quarterfinals and steal the whole tournament. For a week, she was tennis' "It" girl, not to mention its expected savior.
"Everyone has one Cinderella story,'' she said after beating Olga Savchuk 6-3, 6-0 in the first round Monday, losing just two points the entire second set. "Mine was last year.''
What a curious thing to say. First, it isn't true. Not everyone has a story at all.
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And while Oudin was talking about the thrill of coming from nowhere, the problem is she seems to think she was playing over her head at the time.
She was. But she shouldn't be thinking that way. Oudin has spent the past year going back to her usual status, trying to grind out a career while worrying about people expecting too much of her.
It's an odd thing for someone made famous for her fight, as well as her shoes. Remember? She had written the word BELIEVE on them.
Since then, Oudin has had to tell herself that she does believe, but in reality, not fairy tales. She has been forced to think that way.
Otherwise, she would have gone nuts.
"It's like you hear (crowds) stay stuff, and it's not like, 'All right. Come on. You can do it.'
"(Now) it's more like, 'Melanie. Come on. What are you doing?' ''
Her first "Come on'' sounded encouraging. Her second one was more impatience.
"It's just really different from last year when everyone was so pumped for me,'' she said. "They tell me, 'Fire up, Melanie.' I'm like, 'I'm trying as hard as I can, you know.' ''
But deep down, Oudin must be thinking the same thing that the disappointed fans are. If not, then she never really did believe.
With Monday's victory, Oudin has won exactly three matches since April.
Three.
She did play well in Paris early in the year, winning three matches before barely losing to Elena Dementieva, who was ranked No. 7.
I've been able to watch Oudin up close most of the year. She has not believed.
At the Australian Open in January, she lost in three sets to Alla Kudryavtsova, who was in full panic. Then, Oudin got nervous, too. At Indian Wells, she fought for a while, then fell apart, losing 6-0 in the third set.
At the French Open in May, she lost in the first round to Spaniard Anabel Medina Garrigues, a claycourt expert who spent the match looping shots that would bounce up over Oudin's head. Oudin had no idea about a tactic to fight back.
"No way I can move on,'' she said, "if people keep asking me about it.''
This is when I threw three uncomfortable words at her:
One hit wonder?
"I'm only 18,'' she said. "I definitely think I've improved. I'm still as excited and stuff. I realize I belong here now.''
Belong. What happened to "Believe?'' Truth is, before the Open last year, Oudin barely did belong. She had done well at Wimbledon once, and, really, nowhere else.
If you charted her career, you'd see it looks normal, only with one big spike in it: last year's Open. She's being judged on the spike, so it seems that her career is falling off. Really, it isn't. She just can't live up to the moment.
"I'm not going backwards, that's for sure,'' she said. "I'm still young. I'm still improving.''
She's not headed for superstardom. For one thing, at 5-foot-6, she's too short for someone without freakishly great skills, such as Justine Henin. She said the doctor recently told her she's done growing:
"It was a pretty sad day.''
Still, ranked No. 43, she's the highest American woman not named Williams. And she can get better. Maybe top 25? Top 20?
She can have another run, too, but only if she gets the belief back. In fact, this year's Open gives her the perfect opportunity. The draw gave her an easy first round, then winnable matches against No. 29 Alona Bondarenko, and probably French Open champ Francesca Schiavone.
Schiavone had her Cinderella story.
Oudin changed the word on her shoes this year to "COURAGE.'' That doesn't work nearly as well. Believe was beautiful last year, as this tiny, unknown, relentless American kept out-nerving huge, jittery muscular Russians.
No one could have believed. She did.
Someone asked her about John Isner's marathon match at Wimbledon, and Oudin laughed, saying he's more sick of talking about that than she is of talking about last year's Open.
Isner vowed after Wimbledon that he would have more than that moment.
Well, Open officials put Oudin on Ashe Stadium, the world's biggest tennis stadium, Monday to start the tournament. She was nervous, said her stomach felt funny.
But they didn't put the 43rd best player on the show court. They put a fairy tale out there.
Meanwhile, Cinderella is coping with the reality of ever after.
E-mail me at gregcouch09@aol.com; Follow me on Twitter @gregcouch
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