Samantha Stosur

Samantha Jane Stosur (born 30 March 1984) is an Australian former professional tennis player.

Stosur first played professional tennis in 1999 at the age of 15 at an ITF Women's Circuit event in her home state of Queensland where she claimed a straight sets first round victory in the qualifying draw before losing her second round qualifying match (2–6, 6–3, 3–6).

In 2000, she debuted at the Australian Open losing in the first qualifying round.

In the following year, she won four straight ITF titles.

In 2001, when she was 16, she joined the Australian Institute of Sport tennis program.

In 2002, she lost in the first round at the Gold Coast hardcourts event.

In 2003, Stosur won her first WTA Tour singles matches, reaching the third round of the Australian Open.

She lost in the third round to No. 7 seed, Daniela Hantuchová.

She also qualified for the WTA event in Memphis.

In 2004, Stosur reached the semifinals of the Gold Coast event, before falling to Ai Sugiyama.

She reached the second round of the Hobart International, then the second round of the Australian Open, and later qualified for WTA events in Acapulco, Indian Wells, Vienna and Birmingham.

Stosur competed at the Athens Olympics, where she lost in the first round.

She continued to play WTA events, qualifying for the Japan Open and Bali in the autumn of 2004.

At the end of the 2004 season, she reached the doubles final in Québec City, partnered with Els Callens from Belgium.

Stosur reached her first WTA Tour final at her home event in Gold Coast, losing to Patty Schnyder.

She was runner-up at the Sydney event, defeating by walkover the world No. 1 Lindsay Davenport, in the quarterfinal and Elena Dementieva in the semifinal, before losing to fellow Australian Alicia Molik, and won her first doubles title partnering Australian Bryanne Stewart at the same tournament.

Stosur lost to world No. 2, Amélie Mauresmo, in the first round of the Australian Open, but won the mixed-doubles title with Scott Draper over Liezel Huber and Kevin Ullyett.

In July, she teamed up with American Lisa Raymond, winning seven WTA doubles titles before the end of the year, including the US Open, the Kremlin Cup and the WTA Championships.

Stosur finished the year ranked No. 46 in singles and No. 2 in doubles.

Stosur is a four-time Grand Slam champion in women's doubles, winning the 2005 US Open and 2006 French Open with Lisa Raymond, and the 2019 Australian Open and 2021 US Open with Zhang Shuai, and reaching an additional five Grand Slam finals (three with Raymond, one with compatriot Rennae Stubbs, and one with Sabine Lisicki).

She won back-to-back WTA Tour Championships doubles titles with Raymond in 2005 and 2006, and was the co-year end world No. 1 with Raymond in 2006.

Stosur has also won three mixed-doubles Grand Slam titles, at the 2005 Australian Open with Scott Draper, the 2008 Wimbledon Championships with Bob Bryan, and the 2014 Wimbledon Championships with Nenad Zimonjić.

Stosur was born in Brisbane, Queensland and spent the first six years of her life living on the Gold Coast.

She is the daughter of Tony and Diane, and has two brothers, Dominic and Daniel.

The Stosur family is of Polish descent through Sam's paternal grandfather.

When she was six, the family house and business on the Gold Coast were destroyed by a flood, and the family moved to Adelaide.

There she started playing tennis, when she was given a racquet for Christmas at the age of eight.

While her parents worked long hours at the cafe they had started, Stosur played at local courts with older brother Daniel, who later encouraged their parents to take her to tennis lessons.

Her family returned to the Gold Coast when Stosur was 11 years of age.

There she attended Helensvale State High School and Gaven State School.

She went away on her first overseas trip at the age of 13, competing in the World Youth Cup in Jakarta, Indonesia.

At the age of 14, Stosur joined the Queensland Academy of Sport (QAS) under Geoff Masters.

She is a former world No. 1 in doubles, a ranking which she first achieved on 6 February 2006 and held for 61 consecutive weeks.

Stosur was also the top-ranked Australian singles player for 452 consecutive weeks, from October 2008 to June 2017, and was ranked inside the top 25 for a period of nine straight years.

She won a combined total of 40 career titles (9 in singles, 28 in doubles, and 3 in mixed doubles), including 8 major titles, and amassed more than $20 million in prize money.

She also reached the semifinals of the French Open in 2009, 2012 and 2016, and the US Open quarterfinals in 2010 and 2012.

She had previously reached another Grand Slam singles final at the 2010 French Open, along the way defeating former world No. 1 and four-time champion Justine Henin in the fourth round, ending the Belgian's 24-match winning streak at the tournament, and then-world No. 1 Serena Williams in the quarterfinals, before losing to Francesca Schiavone.

Her other major singles achievements include two semifinal finishes at the WTA Finals in 2010 and 2011, as well as reaching three WTA 1000 finals (the Italian Open and Canadian Open in 2011, and the Qatar Open in 2012) and the final of the WTA Elite Trophy in 2013.

Also a former top ten singles player, Stosur reached a career-high singles ranking of world No. 4 on 21 February 2011 and spent a total of 165 weeks ranked inside the top ten, between March 2010 and June 2013.

Stosur won a Grand Slam singles title at the 2011 US Open, where she beat Serena Williams in the final and became the first Australian woman since Evonne Goolagong Cawley in 1980 to win a Grand Slam singles tournament.