Link'd Up, 9/9/09: Oudin and Stats in Tennis

You know how today is the opening of that movie "The Nine" and the reissuing of all the Beatles songs? That's nothing compared to THIS debut.

OK, maybe not. But welcome to the first edition of Link'd Up (sound familiar, like Mik'd Up? Clever, I know). It's simple: I give you a link to a very good or unique article about New York sports. It could be obscure, could be from a couple days ago -- whatever, as long as it's good.

We're kicking it off with a look at US Open sensation Melanie Oudin and her groundbreaking training method.

This article, which comes from the underrated and growing sports desk of the Wall Street Journal, examines the 17-year old prodigy's thorough analysis of film and statistics as part of her training, a method lost on many of her peers. Most sports see film and basic stats as the starting point for training and scouting opponents. In tennis, however, Oudin is one of the few who even looks at tape of her opponents, and it's served her well so far.