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bONUS FOLD-OUT HerO POSTer

SAM STOSUr

US Open ChampiOn

2011

Souvenir SPeCiAL

GrAnD SLAM eDiTion

FEATURES

OcTObER 2011VOL 36 No. 10A $7.50 (inc. GST) NZ $8.40 (inc. GST) US $7.50

14 Sam, I can Sam Stosur endured many obstacles in her journey to major success – and overcame them with poise and dignity to become one of the strongest role models in Australian women’s sport.

18 Australia’s Newest Grand Slam champion Having joined an elite club as a Grand Slam champion at the US Open, Stosur is determined to add more achievements to her impressive record.

22 The March to Victory Stosur showcased the best of her physical and mental weapons as she achieved seven momentous match wins in New York.

28 Doing a Djokovic …Always Winning

Novak Djokovic claimed a third major and 10th title for 2011 at the US Open – strengthening the view he could challenge for a rare calendar-year Grand Slam.

41 Fashion Forward As an individual sport,

tennis practically demands self-expression – and don’t today’s stars manage that well?

32 Pride and Passion Lleyton Hewitt led a spirited

charge and Pat Rafter provided back up spark as the Australian Davis Cup team went down fighting against the highly-credentialed Swiss.

AustrAliAn tennis MAgAzine | October 2011 3

4 AustrAliAn tennis MAgAzine | Ocotber 2011

OctOber 2011

eDItOr Vivienne Christie

cONSULtING eDItOr Alan Trengove

ASSIStANt eDItOr Daniela Toleski

GrAPHIc DeSIGNer Andrea Williamson

ADVertISING MANAGer Jackie Cunningham

ADMINIStrAtION &

SUbScrIPtIONS MANAGer Ben Carenco

MY cOAcH cONteNt Mark Edney

PHOtOGrAPHS Getty Images, John Anthony (All photographs by Getty Images unless specified)

cOVer PHOtO Getty Images

Australian Tennis Magazine is published monthly by TENNIS AUSTRALIA LTD, Private Bag 6060, Richmond, Vic 3121. Ph: (03) 9914 4200 Email: editor@tennismag.com.au

Distributed by Network Distribution CompanyPrinted in Australia by Webstar

The views expressed in Australian Tennis Magazine are not necessarily those held by Tennis Australia. While the utmost care is taken in compiling the information contained in this publication, Tennis Australia is not responsible for any loss or injury occurring as a result of any omissions in either the editorial or advertising appearing herein.

FrOM tHe eDItOr

Sam Stosur, 2011 US Open champion. Australia’s new Grand Slam queen.

Stronger words have rarely, if ever, been written in Australian Tennis

Magazine’s long history and as Stosur’s achievement was celebrated

throughout the world – and especially here in Australia – it was also clear that

there couldn’t be a more deserving, or popular, major champion.

Stosur has overcome numerous career-threatening obstacles, including

major illness, subsequent form battles and periods of self doubt to simply

compete among the world’s top players – never mind stamping her authority

in challenging for the game’s biggest prizes.

Courage and resilience unsurprisingly became Stosur’s trademarks as she

claimed a history-making marathon against Nadia Petrova and recovered

from losing the longest tiebreak in women’s tennis history against Maria

Kirilenko in New York.

It was the final, though, that would show the true calibre of her poise and

determination. Stosur was simply flawless as she outclassed 13-time major

champion Serena Williams, on her own stage, to emerge the champion.

Already a superb role model, Stosur became an inspiration to countless

more fans as she showcased her true champion qualities – a fact that delights

the newest member of the Grand Slam winners club, who has never been shy

in her support of Australian tennis.

As the Queenslander’s success provides a fillip for other prospective

champions, it also validates the development programs that have boosted

her progress, with Stosur quick to thank the support team lead by long-time

coach David Taylor.

Junior Wimbledon champions Ashleigh Barty and Luke Saville, as well as

breakthrough Wimbledon quarter-finalist Bernard Tomic, are among the

players who could potentially follow Stosur’s success.

The newest Grand Slam champion, meanwhile, understands the

expectation that follows her biggest prize – as she demonstrated with such

poise and dignity at the US Open, though, Stosur can face subsequent career

challenges with a new-found inner strength.

VIVIeNNe cHrIStIe, editor

reGULArS7 topspin

35 court talk

47 My Game

54 My coach

68 rankings

71 Your Serve

18

With a trademark forehand to seize championship point, Sam Stosur secured her place in

Australian sporting history. But it wasn’t merely the fact that the Queenslander had defeated Serena Williams to claim one of the biggest titles in tennis – if not in all of sport – at the US Open that made her an instant sporting hero, but the spectacular manner in which she’d set about the task of becoming Australia’s first major-winning woman in 31 years.

Poise, professionalism and persistence were the themes as Stosur strung seven hard-fought victories together in one of tennis’ most testing settings, the 27-year-old holding her nerve in a history-making marathon, recovering from the longest tiebreak in women’s tennis and finally showing the truth depths of her courage in a flawless final against Serena.

Most describe Serena, a 13-time major winner who was vying for a fourth US Open

title on one of the most emotive days in her country’s recent history, as the best player and biggest fighter of her generation – yet you wouldn’t have known it as Stosur politely but cleverly disarmed the local star of her most effective weapons, including that trademark aggression and her apparent mental edge.

As the elated yet stunned Stosur would recount in her post-match press conference: “I’ve played matches where I feel like I played lights out, can’t miss a ball, and, you know, it’s fantastic, but to do it under these circumstances in this kind of final against a player like Serena, for sure I’m going to think it’s one of the best days of my career.”

If such composure was a surprise to fans who were only just catching on to the devastating efficiency of Stosur’s brand of tennis, it certainly wasn’t to those people who have been watching and supporting Australia’s top female for many years.

Rennae Stubbs, a close friend and former Fed Cup teammate, had long believed in Stosur’s ability to challenge for such prizes. “The first time I ever saw Sam play was her first ever match at Fed Cup for Australia and I thought to myself, ‘wow, this girl is so talented and she can handle the pressure’,” Stubbs told Australian Tennis Magazine.

“What I witnessed watching her win that US Open was the same young lady I watched years ago, just better in every facet, more mature and composed and a champion.”

Still, it was a long journey to Grand Slam success for Stosur, who started dreaming of such heights shortly after a friend gifted her a tennis racquet as an eight-year-old. It didn’t take long for the Queenslander’s prodigious talent to become clear but even so, the rewards weren’t necessarily instantaneous.

Brother Daniel, who is nine years Stosur’s senior, would ultimately become one of his sister’s biggest influences after he convinced parents Tony and Dianne that their daughter needed professional guidance in developing her natural weapons into winning ones.

“She didn’t win everything that she played when she was a young kid, she

Sam Stosur endured many obstacles in her journey to major

success but in overcoming them with courage and dignity,

the Queenslander became one of the strongest role

models in Australian women’s sport. By ViVienne ChriStie

Sam, I Can …

14 AustrAliAn tennis MAgAzine | October 2011

Maturity and mobility are among Stosur’s superb strengths.

A powerful role model makes her biggest breakthrough.

Stosur becomes the 40th Grand Slam champion in WTA history.

AustrAliAn tennis MAgAzine | October 2011 15

probably lost a lot more than she actually won,” Daniel said. “That was because she was playing some older girls too, but she just had some technical abilities there that other girls just didn’t seem to have. A much bigger and better forehand and certainly her serve was a standout as well.”

Those powerful weapons provided an edge but perseverance would remain requirements in Stosur’s early years on the WTA Tour. Despite rising to the world No. 1 doubles ranking as she claimed a string of titles (including two Grand Slams with American Lisa Raymond) Stosur’s only standout singles major performance was a fourth round appearance at Australian Open 2006, her record at other events restricted to noteworthy, yet frustrating, runner-up performances at the Gold Coast and Sydney in 2006, as well as Prague the following year.

And then came the much-publicised battle with Lyme’s disease in 2007 – a life-threatening illness for many people and certainly a career-threatening one for Stosur, who was so severely weakened that for a time she couldn’t even push a supermarket trolley.

A seven-month absence from competition obliterated Stosur’s ranking but only strengthened her hunger to compete at the game’s highest level. “I always tried to believe that it would be possible to come back from that, and I was very lucky that I did recover very quickly and get back on the court and do what I wanted to do,” she said. “So if anything, it kind of made me open my eyes more that you don’t necessarily always get a second chance. I wanted to take every opportunity I had, and I have now been able to fulfill that.”

With coach David Taylor by her side, the hard-working Stosur was committed to the endless hours of training required in creating those opportunities and eventually rewarded with a French Open semi-final appearance in 2009, and then a stunning run to the final in 2010, conquering four-time champion Justine

Sam, I Can …

Henin, former world No. 1 Jelena Jankovic and the seemingly unbeatable Serena in those performances.

However that Roland Garros final would ultimately prove a disappointment, many wondering whether Stosur had surrendered her biggest Grand Slam opportunity when Francesca Schiavone claimed the match in three sets. Any optimism was tested further after Stosur’s lacklustre start to season 2011, where the only high point was a quarter-final run in Dubai.

As she demonstrated so superbly in New York, though, giving up isn’t part of Stosur’s DNA. While working with AIS sports psychologist Ruth Anderson to build her mental strength, she also set about further finetuning her physical weapons.

Geoff Masters, one of Stosur’s junior coaches, was struck by how beautifully those qualities would merge in New York. “When you really know you’ve done the work and you can stay in a point longer, you’re a lot calmer. I think she certainly did that,” he said. “Plus of course we know that she obviously lost the final of the French Open. That would have been hard to take but obviously if you learn some lessons from it, it will stand you in good stead in the future.”

Indeed, if the lessons had been hard to learn for Stosur, they had also been well learnt – and as Taylor pointed out, her biggest success was years in the making. “Obviously winning a Grand Slam is the reward and result of working hard for many years, not just the fortnight of the event,” he said. “If I had to point to

a single overall ingredient of how Sam came to put herself in that position I’d say it’s her professionalism.”

Such professionalism meant that Stosur had barely had a chance to absorb her Grand Slam success before she was looking to add to it, with a short-term priority of achieving her best results on Australian soil.

“Obviously it’s very different being at home now and playing at the Australian Open. I’ve definitely had different pressures playing there in the past and from my success overseas,” she commented after the final. “But I know it’s going to be different, and hopefully I can handle it and learn from everything I’ve gone through over the past years to be able to handle it as best I can … if I can play like I did today, then hopefully it’s all going to be okay.”

It’s unlikely that there would be a player considered more deserving of such success. “This (US Open victory) sets her

apart in women’s sport in Australia now. She becomes one of the icons of women’s sport,” said Todd Woodbridge, Head of Professional Tennis at Tennis Australia. “When she wins a Grand Slam she moves towards the legendary status as opposed to one of the great athletes in Australia. It sets her a completely different life path basically for the rest of her tennis, and her life.”

If that inspires more young athletes to pick up a racquet, then the biggest prize on offer becomes even more rewarding for Stosur, who doesn’t regret a single sacrifice in her long journey to success. “I have slept in train stations and stayed in dodgy hotels … it all pays off in the end. I would do it all over again if I had to,” she said.

“I didn’t start playing to break records or anything like that. My goal and dream since I started, I’ve said it before, was to win a Grand Slam. Now to actually do it, it’s unbelievable. Being in Australia with that great history and now to break that drought is obviously very special.” n

16 AustrAliAn tennis MAgAzine | October 2011

The world No. 7 is already eyeing success on Australian soil.

Stosur’s physical strengths are backed by stronger self-belief.

US Open success could provide a key to an even brighter future.

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