Go to any theme park in the world and you will find a thrilling, hair-raising, heart-pounding roller-coaster designed to give you a thrill before your previous meal makes a stunning reentry into your life.
Sam Stosur is another type of roller-coaster.
Like the variety found in a theme park, this roller-coaster can lead to physical illness in the form of stress headaches or damage to the foot that you end up planting smack bang in the centre of your telly when the frustration reaches dangerously high levels.
True to form, Stosur’s opening two matches at the Brisbane International fit the bill of roller-coaster rides.
Stosur has admitted she finds playing at home difficult. The word ‘home’ doesn’t merely designate the bright lights of BrisVegas or other Australian cities, but could also include a dusty outcrop in the middle of nowhere. The pressure is ubiquitous.
The pressure of performing at home is immense and to attack Stosur for this is grossly unfair. Overcoming these pressures, while not insurmountable, must be very difficult.
The foundations of the Sam Stosur roller-coaster can be found in the pressure she finds playing in Australia. This pressure is compounded by the Australian swing being at that the start of the tennis season. Stosur needs match practice to build on momentum, and even coming off such a short break this is difficult to achieve.
Watching her opening two matches, it was clear that one of the biggest effects a lack of momentum has on her game is the damage it does to her serve.
Her opening match, on Monday, against Slovakian Jana Cepelova was a case in point, as too was her loss of nine games in a row against Spanish player Carla Suarez Navarro.
The turning point in Stosur’s second set comeback against CSN came when she was serving at 1-4. Stosur found some form with two aces and lifted for the rest of the set, winning it convincingly in a tie-break.
Stosur may have lost this match, going down 4-6 in the third, but at least she salvaged something from what was shaping up as a car wreck.
Returning to Monday’s match, another foundation of the Sam Stosur roller-coaster was also clearly present.
While finesse of touch is disappearing from tennis on both the men’s and women’s sides of the game, there are moments when fans of the men’s game are still treated to a pirouetting Roger Federer with a delft touch of hand.
Against Cepelova, Stosur seemed intent on unnecessarily smashing the casing off the ball on important points that required a nice touch rather than extreme power.
In fact, if attempting to unnecessarily smash the fur off the ball when it really isn’t required were an Olympic sport, Monday’s performance proved Stosur would be the Michael Phelps of it.
Thankfully for the sake of the balls, such opportunities didn’t present themselves against Suarez Navarro.
But the constant desire to exert extreme power when something much more delicate was required was frustrating to watch. Far too many points that were hers for the easy taking were coughed up.
A further pillar in this roller-coaster’s foundations is firmly embedded in her renown for losing the plot out on court. Another issue that can be reigned in but not easily.
This raises the question of whether she should make greater use of on-court coaching.
As a slight purist, this rule is a little agitating. For many, the beauty and challenge of tennis is its solitary and individual nature. A player should work through the mental challenges as much as the physical ones on their own.
Nevertheless, it is in the rules of the WTA for coaches to come onto court and advise their charges, and when in Rome perhaps Stosur should use this rule to her advantage.
Some coaching on Monday may have saved Stosur having to play an extra set. In yesterday’s match, some coaching may have prevented her losing nine games in a row. The Australian simply took too long to change her tactics against CSN.
A visit from her coach may also help her to focus, rather than overthink her game.
Coaches are not allowed on court during Grand Slams and the argument that working through on-court problems on your own is good preparation for the four majors is a relevant one. But using this rule during smaller tournaments may also be beneficial if it acts as a reference point for the matches that don’t allow it.
Watching Stosur over the last two days has been an emotional roller-coaster for her fans.
Monday ended in a stress headache and the telly is still counting its blessings it didn’t have a foot through it early in the third set. Although Tuesday night had glimmers of hope in the second set, it still repeated the up-and-down journey of a flimsy old cart riding on a rickety frame.
Torchbearer
Guest
I find the 'pressure at home' argument a funny one these days. I doubt many Australians expect her to even win a match in Australia these days. There is only so much any fan can bear. Kudos to her though for stringing together 7 wins, including over Serena, to win the US Open. No Aussie has won a Grand Slam since.
MichaelJ
Guest
That's a bit harsh. It's time other women players stood up to take the pressure off Sam. Ashleigh Barty had potential but is now playing cricket. It has to be dreadfully bad management within Tennis Australia to lose a player of that ability to another sport.
Chris Kettlewell
Roar Guru
The thing is that she's been around long enough to have no excuses left. If she knows areas she struggles, then she needs to change things to overcome that. That's what good players do. Yet year after year the story is the same. She's got tennis weapons but it's like she's only ever had a plan A. If plan A is working, then she can win a match, the moment it stops working she's not nothing else to turn to so she just accepts the other player is better and takes the loss. She's mentally fragile. and can't seem to handle playing matches where she should win. That seems to become pressure to her. She often does better against higher ranked players than lower ranked players. It's like, if the player has a higher ranking, there's less pressure because there are more ready made excuses if she loses, so she's more relaxed and plays better. She only ever seems to win from the front. I don't think I've ever seen her come back from a set down and win. (Probably because if she's a set down it's because Plan A isn't working, and since she has no other things to try, she can only win from there if the opponent implodes). I also don't get the statement, "The pressure of performing at home is immense and to attack Stosur for this is grossly unfair. Overcoming these pressures, while not insurmountable, must be very difficult." I'm sorry, but just about every other Australian player plays their best tennis at home. There is lots of support and people willing you on. She's the only Australian tennis player I've ever seen crumble under the pressure of playing at home. So to suggest that the pressure of playing at home simply is a big thing and it's not fair to attack Sam for it just doesn't add up considering all the evidence suggests that Sam is the only Australian player who feels this pressure and is affected by it.
Nicholas Mirarchi
Roar Guru
She just struggles to find consistency on her home courts, she should have the confidence but she is well past her prime as far as winning Grand Slams goes.
clipper
Guest
It doesn't help when they change the surfaces to suit the power players. If not for Federer there would hardly be any finesse players left - all about topspin and power now.
Kate Smart
Expert
I agree with you, Alfredo, if kids aren't taught the finer points they never learn it. It's such a shame for those of us old enough to remember when tennis was about finesse and not just trying to smash the life out of the ball. I think most agree those days are long gone and not coming back. But when we do see finesse, we marvel at it and equally we find the lack of it frustrating…or at least I do. Thanks for the comment.
Trevdog
Roar Rookie
It would be great to see Stosur achieve success at home but she is almost unbearable to watch. If she finds a way to fight back to win a set, you find yourself waiting for her to self-implode and lose in 3 sets, as was the case last night. The first round against Cepelova (a player much lower in the rankings) was also far from convincing despite the rankings difference. She has the ability, strength and experience to beat these players! Stosur has won a grand slam and made another grand slam final, so she should have the belief and presence when on court in these preliminary rounds. It is great to see that Stosur is not wearing the sunnies when playing now though.
Alfredo Pfister
Guest
Coaches these days either are not interested or have not the necessary teaching skills to teach a student the finesse of the game. We rarely see, drop shots, lobs, or any kind of different shots, when they do it, they are hardly well executed. Tennis has developed in a game of power, the aim is to blast the opposition out of the court, if players don't learn or practice the subtlety of the game how they are going to change the strategy if they don't have the tools to do it.