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When Madison Keys secured an All-American semifinals at the U.S. Open, Melanie Oudin was quick to tweet her excitement.

In just the round prior, Keys, CoCo Vandeweghe and eventual champion Sloane Stephens had all become the first Americans (outside of Venus and Serena Williams) to reach the quarterfinals since Oudin did in 2009. It was a bittersweet moment for Oudin, who just prior to the tournament, announced her retirement from professional tennis due to years of injury and illness.

Melanie Oudin Announced Her Retirement Last Month

“I think it's amazing that we have four American women making up the semifinals of the U.S. Open,” Oudin said. “I'm so happy for American women's tennis, and it just shows now that they're ready to win Slams.”

Oudin’s career in tennis started simply when the sport found her. At age seven, her grandmother took her and her twin sister, Katherine, out to the public courts to hit a bucket of tennis balls. It was then Oudin got her first taste of the competitive fire that helped catapult her to No. 34 in the world.

“I just loved my time on the court trying to get better every time I played,” Oudin said. “I loved the competitiveness [tennis offered] and I could never get enough hours on the court.”