Masur talks up Sam in Paris
TENNIS Australia’s head of performance has declared Samantha Stosur at the crossroads of her stellar career.
But Wally Masur also believes the 34-year-old Gold Coaster can once again challenge for French Open glory if the cards fall her way.
Australia’s only grand slam tournament singles title winner in over a decade and a half, Stosur enters the claycourt major starting in Paris on Sunday unseeded for the first time since 2008.
Since then, she made the semi-finals four times – most recently in 2016 when she upset now-world No.1 Simona Halep.
In 2010, Stosur went on to make the final, only to lose to Italian Francesca Schiavone.
Pointing to the late-career renaissance of Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal, Masur said if Stosur was to enjoy her own Indian summer, it would be at Roland Garros, the home of the French Open.
“This is her time. There’s been very rarely a red-clay season where she hasn’t played well,” he said.
“And I think, without putting too fine a point on it, it’s a pretty important time for her.
“She’s 60th in the world now, she’s got Strasbourg (rankings points) to defend, plus fourth round of the French (last year), so it’s kind of game on.
“That puts a little bit of pressure on you going in. But it has, historically, been a great surface for her.”
Despite her unflattering ranking, Stosur habitually excels in Paris, where the courts suit her high-spinning forehand and deadly secondserve kicker – especially on hot and sunny days.
In the absence of grand slam heavyweights Serena Williams and Maria Sharapova and other big guns dropping like flies, many were tipping Stosur to reign last year before an untimely stress fracture in her right hand cruelled her chances.
She had been leading surprise eventual champion Jelena Ostapenko 4-0 after just 13 minutes in their last-16 clash until disaster struck.
Instead of a thrashing for Ostapenko, the Latvian cashed in on Stosur’s misfortune to rewrite tennis history while Australia’s former US Open champion wondered what might have been during a near-five-month layoff.