#4: Serena, Serena

I love women's tennis.

However, I am no fan of the USA's Serena Williams.

For the better part of 10 years, Serena, and her sister Venus, have been the best representatives from the United States in the women's half of the sport in terms of winning matches and championships.

As such, I feel that most American tennis fans (either dedicated or casual) support the Williamses mainly out of feeling patriotic: "I'm an American, so I root for Americans."

Except this isn't the Olympics.

And even if it were, pride in your fellow countrymen (and women) should only extend so far as their humility.

Some would argue that without the kind of competitive spark that led Serena to suggest shoving a ball down a line judge's throat, she would not be the regular contender that she is, hence there's sort of a trade-off.

I would argue that sportsmanship is paramount, especially on so large of a stage as the US Open, and that there are better ways of disagreeing with the judgment of an official.

As it is, Serena exploded after the line judge's call of a foot fault made it Double Match Point in favor of her opponent, Belgium's Kim Clijsters. The misconduct penalty that followed awarded that final point to Clijsters without her having to play for it.

The sequence of events involving Serena Williams is what the late John Lennon refers to as "Instant Karma".

And it got her.

What's worse is that at the ensuing press conference, and for a couple days afterward (wherein a $10,000 fine was levied against her), there was no hint of regret.

On Monday, a form-letter-sounding apology was issued and posted to her blog.

Still, the damage has been done. More people will remember her outburst, rather than her apology (the sincerity of which can still be free debated).

As the top women's tennis player in the US (and #2 in the world), Serena has to be conscious that there are those who look up to her, who aspire to be her.

While Serena and Venus (the world #3 who seems to be much better at checking her emotions) are the two best players the United States has to offer, there may be another American waiting in the wings for tomorrow's tennis players (and fans) to look up to.

She remained humble, despite dispatching three championship caliber opponents from Russia in consecutive fashion as the 70th ranked player in the world. And, when given the chance to speak after losing to then-ranked #8 Caroline Wozniacki of Denmark (a rare on-court interview of a match's loser), she held back tears as she thanked the partisan crowd for their support through her remarkable run, while crediting Wozniacki on her game.

She is soon-to-be 18-year old Melanie Oudin.

Now ranked #44 (a jump of 36 places).

Let's hope that as she gets more accustomed to winning on bigger stages, she is able to stay down to earth.

Melanie Oudin (l) of the United States meets Caroline Wozniacki of Denmark at the net following her 2-6, 2-6 defeat at the U.S. Open.