I AM SAM
Hey, New York, have you forgotten won a title here not that long ago?
FORMER US Open champion Sam Stosur will storm into the third round tomorrow despite the tournament forgetting how to spell her name.
Stosur received an almighty snub by the event this week, being forced to catch a bus to Flushing Meadows and shunted off her practice session.
The official scoreboard in her first-round match also bizarrely spelt her name “Samantha Stodosova”.
The treatment – which Stosur said was not good enough – did not stop her from blasting her second-round opponent, Russian Evgeniya Rodina, in just 51 minutes yesterday, 6-1, 6-1.
It was her best result at the court since 2012.
Tomorrow, Stosur will play Italian 16th seed Sara Errani.
The former champion had to catch a bus from Manhattan to Flushing Meadows on Wednesday after tournament organisers told her all of the cars were in use by other players.
On the same day, she had a 45-minute practice session booked on court but was shunted between three different courts after world No.1 Serena Williams booted her off.
“When you are still in the tournament you try and book a car and they say you can’t have one before 10am because you don’t have a match,” Stosur said. “I don’t think it’s good enough.”
When asked if she thought Williams – the only woman to win the US Open since Stosur in 2011 – would get a car, she replied: “Yeah.”
“She kicked me off my practice court yesterday too,” Stosur said. “A few issues, but it’s all right.”
Stosur said she was not speaking as a former champion but for all players.
“It’s not just me,” she said. “There have been many players in that situation.
“It’s a grand slam. It’s one of the biggest tournaments in the world. You’ve got to be able to provide transport to players when they need it.”
Stosur said that since she won the tournament she had received “a little more help”. “Bar yesterday,” she said. Tournament spokesman Chris Widmaier said the US Open had “nothing but the highest regard for Samantha Stosur”.
“She’s a champion here,” he said.
Widmaier said players with matches took priority for transport. He did not know why Stosur’s name was spelt incorrectly or why she was unable to keep a practice court.