WTA: Sam Stosur: Back to childhood coach at the age of 34

Samantha Stosur goes “back to the roots”: For the next tournaments she trusts Nick Watkins, a trainer she already had 20 years ago at her side.

“You could say he’s my coach now,” the 2011 US Open winner told tennis.com.au after her preparation with Watkins had gone so well. “It’s been almost 20 years since we’ve been on the court together, but we had a wonderful relationship even after that.”

Stosur had prepared herself in Melbourne in November and then continued her training on the Gold Coast with Watkins. “I said to him, ‘Hey, the two weeks were great, are you coming on tour?'” The cooperation during the Australian summer is planned first, then we will look further ahead.

Stosur had previously left coach Josh Eagle, with whom she had been on the road for the past few years.

Your focus in 2019? “I want to get my ranking back up. To a position from which I can enter the main fields. I don’t want to be dependent on wildcards or play qualifiers every week,” revealed the current number 72 on her homepage. “When I get back into the top 40, I’m pretty much in everywhere. And at the French Open I would like to be seeded, that makes it easier,” she said.

The sand season is her goal anyway, according to the 2010 Paris finalist. Stosur also reached the semi-finals in Roland Garros in 2009, 2012 and 2016. She wanted to work mainly on the serve. “I need to win more service games, the percentages aren’t where they should be. I have a good first serve and I know that I can work on it and improve it,” she explains. And I want to stay healthy.”