He’s Melanie Oudin’s love, 15.
Though her long hours of tennis training leave little time for courtship, the 17-year-old Georgia phenom competing in today’s US Open quarterfinals has been going steady — with a younger boy.
Austin Smith met Oudin at the Racquet Club of the South, in Norcross, Ga., north of Atlanta, where they both train with coach Brian de Villiers.
Smith, a ranked junior player himself, and Oudin have been inseparable at the tournament, and Melanie credits him with coming up with the idea to emblazon her pink and yellow sneakers with the word “Believe.”
Oudin yesterday took a break from preparing for her match today against Caroline Wozniacki of Denmark by tooling around town with Smith and her coach.
Not expecting to make it this far in the tournament, her reservation at the Marriott Marquis ran out and she had to change hotels.
“It’s really nice so far,” she said of the reception she’s been getting around town. As for today’s match, “It’s going to be a tough one,” she said.
News of her romance with Smith was as surprising to many back home as Oudin’s improbable dispatching of powerhouse Russians Maria Sharapova and Nadia Petrova.
“No one knew they were a couple,” another player at the club told The Post. “Everyone thought they were just friends.”
Roger Anderson, a trainer who works with several players at the Open, said if the two are playing mixed doubles, it appears to be the G-rated variety.
“It’s certainly not an adult relationship,” said Anderson, who has seen the pair lunching each day in Flushing Meadows. “They don’t hold hands or anything like that.”
Many of Oudin’s friends were surprised she’d be dating a younger guy.
“But I guess once you are in the US Open you can date whoever you want to and nobody gets to ask questions,” pal Chelsea Goodly said.
Goodly, a classmate of Oudin’s twin sister, Katherine, said tennis has made it very difficult for budding star Melanie to have a social life.
Unlike Katherine, who also plays tennis, Oudin from age 9 committed exclusively to the game.
While Katherine got to be a normal kid and go to high school and the prom, Oudin was home-schooled so she could focus on her game.
Despite all the attention being showered upon Melanie, there’s zero jealousy between the sisters, Goodly said.
“It’s really refreshing — Katherine just gets so excited about every one of Melanie’s successes,” Goodly said. “Every time I talk to her it’s, ‘Melanie did this today,’ or, ‘You won’t believe what Melanie did now.’ ”
At the Norcross club, Melanie is known for grace on and off the court.
“What you see on the court is what’s she’s like in life,” said Ann Keeton, the club’s player liaison. “She’s just a lovely girl.”
The sudden demand for merchandise bearing her name has been huge, said John Reichel of Ace Collectibles, which sells tennis memorabilia at the major tournaments.
One problem: Nobody has Oudin merchandise.
“We definitely regret not being prepared for her popularity,” Reichel said. “She’s not one of the top five players in the world, at least not yet, so nobody has the merchandise.”