Not nearly enough is made of the players like Melanie Oudin or Jesse Levine who qualify for the Grand Slam events and go deep into the tournaments.  Both had to win three matches just to get into Wimbledon’s main draw. 

Oudin, who upset Jankovic in a tough and courageous match in which she lost multiple set points in the first set tiebreaker but still came back to win, has now won six matches in a row and on Monday begins her third week of Wimbledon competition.  And she almost didn’t get past round one of the qualifiers, coming back after losing her first set of the first qualies match 6-2. 

Levine, ranked 133 in the world and the 13th highest ranked American, also fought his way into the tournament and hung tough into the third round of the main draw until he lost a four-set match against No. 18 Stanislas Wawrinka. 

Tennis fans obsess over Federer and Nadal and the Williams sisters, and those are great stories. But there are also many marvelous players fighting tooth and nail at the 100-plus ranking levels who deserve our attention. 

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