Sam Stosur quietly snuck into the French Open quarter final last night.
There was not quite the fanfare that accompanied Nick Kygrios’ two quarter final appearances at Wimbledon 2014 and the Australian Open in 2015 – or for that matter Leyton Hewitt winning the first round of the Australian Open in recent years.
Perhaps Sam’s crime is to perform better on the clay in France and the hard courts of Flushing Meadows rather than the hallowed grass of Wimbledon or at her home slam in Melbourne.
A quick review of Sam’s career provides revealing insights into her success.
Stosur won the 2011 US Open singles final with a devastating 6-2, 6-3 victory over one of the greatest tennis players of all time in Serena Williams.
The year before she appeared in her first grand slam final at the French Open losing to Francesca Schiavane.
En route to the final Stosur defeated Justine Henin, 2–6, 6–1, 6–4, World No. 1 Serena Williams, 6–2, 6–7(2), 8–6 (saving a match point in the final set) and former World No. 1 Jelena Jankovic 6–1, 6–2.
She has also reached the semi-finals of the French Open on two occasions and the quarter finals of the US Open on two occasions.
To put these achievements in perspective, one has to go back 31 years when the great Evonne Goolagong Cawley was the last Australian woman to succeed at a grand slam.
And what about the prospects of our next female grand slam winner? In this year’s French Open Daria Gavrilova (ranked 46) lost in the first round to 75th-ranked Colombian Mariana Duque-Marino.
The only other Australian in the draw was Arina Rodionova, the recipient of a wildcard, who was bundled out in straight sets in the first round by 76th-ranked Ana Konjuh.
While Daria will no doubt do Australia proud in the future she is hardly a product of Australia’s junior development program and in any case, do we really, seriously expect her to be a grand slam winner?
A look at the rankings beyond Daria is hardly encouraging with Casey Dellacqua sitting at 180 the next in line followed by 26-year-old Rodianova at 238.
Perhaps our best prospect is Ash Bartley recently returned from premature retirement but there are no guarantees as she works her way back through minor tournaments.
When you throw in Sam’s two grand slam ladies doubles victories and three slam mixed doubles titles we surely have a career worthy of celebration.
It is time that we took a pause to acknowledge the career of Sam Stosur. It might be a long time before we have another woman as good as Sam.
Johnno
Guest
Sam, underpprecaited, what the? She doesn't deserve anymore credit than she gets. She's just a journeyman or top 10 player at best. No different to a Peter Korda type in the men's. She's no Steffi Graff or Margaret court or chris evert, she's failure compared to them. She doesn't get underappreciated, she's only 1 won grand slam, big whoop that's nothing. Look at Serena's record or Margaret court's record compared to Sam, Sam'a a failure in the bigger picture. Bernard Tomic is a failure to, he's no Laver-Fed-Sampras-Nadal. Heck Tomic is not even Boris Becker or Agassi. He's a dud just a journeyman. If all you can do in your tennis career is be a top 10 or 20 player journeyman/or woman your a dud in the bigger picture, get over it. Sam Stosur is no Steffi Graff or Seles.
Beny Iniesta
Guest
Ok, well Dokic made QF at least at Australian Open, Wimbledon & French Open, Provis made SF at French Open, while McQuillan didn't - just making several Fourth Rounds at the Slams.
Beny Iniesta
Guest
Pretty sure Nicole Provis and Rachel McQuillan have reached Slam Quarter-Finals, if not Semi-Finals, and also Jelena Dokic has 100% made a Wimbledon semi-final along the way - surprised you forgot her. Also Hana Mandlikova also made some late runs since becoming Australian did she not?
Beny Iniesta
Guest
In terms of Hewitt & Rafter pretty sure Sam has never been World No. 1. Hewitt was No. 1 for almost 2 years one mustn't forget, and Rafter did manage to get there if only for a week.
Beny Iniesta
Guest
Sam has had a pretty good career, but Australians can be quite demanding. She is probably within Australia's best 30 Tennis players or so, so it's quite a crowded field to compete with. If she won another couple of majors that would perhaps elevate her into the Top 20 or so which would definitely garner her more attention. That would also put her for sure in the Top 10 Australian women as well.
Gordon Smith
Guest
I understand peoples frustration with her inability to perform to expectations in the Australian open and Wimbledon. I suspect that part of the reason she is not recognised for her achievements are that the only two free to air slams are Wimbledon and Melbourne where she has had less success. However to put it into context since Evonne Goolagong won Wimbledon in 1980 to my memory outside Stosur only 2 Aus women have reached a quarter final of a slam since (Turnbull Wimbledon 1981 and Molik Aus 2005) Streaky, hot and cold, not a fighter, folds like a cheap suit - pity the rest of the Australian women tennis player for the last 36 years :)
James
Guest
I agree I think the issue people have with her is just how incredibly erratic she has always tended to be - You would see flashes of brilliance against world No1 but then Stosur will go out in round 1 to the world No2203957. Then she'll beat world No4 and lose next game to world No156. And a lot of it seemed to psychological. Australian's like a fighter and a never-say-die attitude but she seems to fold like a cheap suit sometimes
Matth
Guest
Well said. Any criticism of Sam is pretty rich for our best female tennis player in a generation. I terms of achievement she's not far off Hewitt and Rafter, and now she's made the semis of the French again. You hit the nail on the head in the first part of your article. She isn't appreciated because she has had all her best performances away from home and Winbledon
Miglia
Guest
Gordon - Sam had a great year in 2005 when she was ranked No 1 doubles player. Unlike most double specialists she made the transition to singles wonderfully well taking out the US Open in 2011 destroying Serena in straights. She's 8 and 3 against Serena overall. However Sam's a streaky player. She beat Halep yesterday winning a tie break 7 zip. But the last time she played Halep she lost a tiebreak by the same score. Sam plays hot and cold and disappoints her fans quite often. Let's hope she stays hot at this year's French.