Sam soaks up heat
SAMANTHA Stosur has returned to Queensland ahead of the summer of tennis in a training switch she hopes will bring her success at the Australian Open.
Fully recovered from a hand injury that cruelled her French Open assault, the world No.41 will begin her season on December 31 at the Brisbane International.
The Gold Coast player has opted to train at home, in Bris- bane and on the Sunshine Coast at the back end of this year and is hopeful she can progress beyond the fourth round at her home grand slam for the first time.
Having added fellow Queenslander and coach Josh Eagle this year on a full-time basis, the 2011 US Open champion has enjoyed training with Australia’s new No.1 Ashleigh Barty ahead of a potential clash at Brisbane’s seasonopening tournament.
“It’s the first time in many, many years doing my pre- season training up in Queensland,” the 33-year-old said.
“I don’t know if there’s any secret formula.
“Whenever I’ve trained in Sydney or Melbourne, it’s been the same intensity and it’s still a lot of hard work.
“But hopefully these warmer, hotter conditions day in, day out will be good for me.
“I’m feeling pretty good about it.”
Stosur relinquished the Australian No.1 ranking first to Daria Gavrilova (world No.25) and then the fast-finishing Barty (17) to end the season in unfamiliar territory and is likely to miss out on the seedings at Melbourne Park in January.
While used to shouldering the burden of expectation, Stosur said her new status would not change her mindset.
“It’s nice to have that No.1 next to your name but, at end of day, you go into every match the same — it’s not any easier or harder,” she said.
“A lot of that’s (public pressure) up to you guys (the media), so we’ll see but, at end of day, that’s all irrelevant because I know what I think I’m capable of and what my own expectations are.”
Stosur missed this year’s US Open after a stress fracture in her hand sidelined her for more than three months. She returned to action in October at Beijing’s China Open.
“It was great to get to Asia and play a few matches and feel the competitiveness come back a bit,” she said.
Barty and Stosur will be part of a Brisbane International women’s field including six players ranked 11th or higher.