Americans, and I think people in general, have a way of elevating people to hero status, pushing them off to kids as role models, before we have vetted them properly. Like the Greek gods, our heroes are human and with them come human frailties. We may want them to be larger than life, but like modern comic book heroes, people we make out to be heroes may have lives that aren’t so heroic.

How many parents have moaned in disgust over Mylie Cyrus, Britney Spears or Lindsay Lohan? In the early part of their careers, parents thought they were good role models for their kids. Once they got older and trouble happened, then it was ‘what has happened to the youth of today’ and other hand wringing statements. What we fail to do is tell young people to be their own hero. They don’t need someone else to define what a hero is for them. They can admire or reflect upon the skills someone else use, but don’t put the person so high on a pedestal because at some point you’re going to see the flaws and realize they aren’t as perfect as others make them out to be.

Melanie Oudin is the latest of the overnight sensations the press has made into a role model. Oudin was a competitor in the US Open tennis tournament. She was 17 years old and had the type of story that is ripped from a publicist headline. She had defeated three ranking Soviet tennis players, with each win bringing on a frenzy of emotion. She is from Georgia, with a twin sister and those homespun values Middle America loves. After the three wins she was on every morning show imaginable. She was taken to Times Square which caused a bit of commotion. She was called the Cinderella player and “all of America” was in love with her.

Yesterday she lost and was out of the tournament. She was gracious in defeat.

To me it seemed a little premature to talk of her as a Cinderella player. She had beaten some ranked players, but she hadn’t come up against a Williams sister (one is still left) nor has she played against some of the higher ranking players. In a lot of the coverage she was heralded as the new wave of tennis player, even though this was the first many had heard of her. In a sense they already had her picture on the Wheates box without a significant win. Considering the amount of press she got the past two days, after she had her big win, it sort of made sense that after all the talk and press she would lose the next match she had. The heady press surrounding her or the pressure presented to her probably distracted her from a win, at least that would have been the story in a true Hollywood scenario.

Things, it seem, got to be a lot more complicated.

It was reported this morning that her parents have filed for divorce. To add more drama to the story it seems the mother may have had an affair with Melanie’s tennis coach. It seems that the parents had filed for divorce almost a year ago. Now the story reads more like a Greek tragedy than Cinderella. Mind you, Melanie Oudin had nothing to do with changing what happened in the story. All she did was play tennis and did a very good job of going up the ranks in the US Open. Nothing can take that away from her. Where things went wrong was the template others put on her. She was just playing tennis yet the press and other people put this Cinderella aura around her. Because of what went on behind the scenes, the view is tarnished and she has to face the issue of divorce of her parents and possible infidelity in the glare of the public eye. In my gut this doesn’t sound like it will end up well.