Australian tennis champion Sam Stosur opens up about life as a mum, her relationship and future
When Sam Stosur claimed the Spirit of Tennis award at last year’s Newcombe Medal, her speech was warm and heartfelt. But there was something very important missing. And it wouldn’t happen again.
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From grand slams to gummy smiles.
This year has marked an incredible change of pace for Australian grand slam winner Sam Stosur, who now finds herself wrangling change times rather than changes of ends against tennis’ top names.
On June 16, Stosur’s partner Liz Astling gave birth to “adorable” Genevieve – known as Evie.
The announcement came some four weeks later, when Stosur posted heartwarming snaps from the Melbourne hospital where Evie was born and at home, declaring she and Liz were “absolutely in love” and “rolling with the happy chaos”.
The outpouring of support was immediate, global and immense.
Like any new parents, it’s been a whirlwind for the pair as they adjust to life as new mums, but Stosur has loved every second.
“She’s just adorable, isn’t she? She’s pretty happy at the moment, so that’s good,” Stosur said.
“Just very, very happy and excited and very proud to have little Evie here.
“It still seems a little bit weird to say she’s my daughter, but I’ll get used to that. It’s absolutely amazing.”
The intensely private grand slam champion revealed the new arrival – whose pending birth had remained a secret – on social media earlier this month, and has opened up for the first time about motherhood and her relationship with Astling in an interview with Australian tennis great Todd Woodbridge.
She said motherhood was “absolutely amazing” and that she could not have anticipated the impact that little Evie could have had on their lives.
“I could not have imagined it would be this incredible,” Stosur, 36, said.
“(We’re) so very, very lucky that we’ve got little Evie and she’s just an absolute gem.
“Even the tougher times don’t seem that bad when you just look at her little face and you just want to cuddle her and hold her all day long. It’s absolutely incredible.”
COVID CHAOS
There’s been many lessons in the epic learning curve for Stosur, with the added – and often stressful – layers of the coronavirus crisis that has gripped not only Victoria but the world.
Visitors to hospitals and private homes have been banned or significantly restricted, with the latest lockdown measures meaning the family has been heavily limited for those treasured newborn visits from family and friends.
For the former world No.4, it has meant a lot to take in, often without a lot of sleep as Evie adjusts to find her routine.
“I’ve obviously learned a lot about babies in the last little while,” Stosur said in the interview.
“I didn’t know that they would lose weight after birth, and that it would be such a struggle to make sure that they put it back on.
“And sleep, obviously. I’m lucky that I get to sleep through the night a little bit more, but there’s certainly been quite a few days where you get up and you’re like, ‘ooh, geez, this is going to be a rough one’.
“But all in all, she’s pretty good. We’ve just got to try and move that sleeping pattern to the night-time rather than the early evening. I know that that’ll come in time.”
If anything, the COVID-19 crisis and WTA tour being on hold has afforded Stosur a few little luxuries.
In July of any other year, Stosur would have recently completed the grass court swing of Wimbledon and would be preparing to travel to Flushing Meadows for the US Open.
“I would never have thought it could have worked out the way that it has in the end,” she said.
“For me to be home in the lead-up, to do the birthing classes with Liz rather than maybe on the phone while I was in Europe or something like that, and to do all the shopping.
“There’s certainly been some bonuses to being home, but certainly some also tricky times, given that obviously we’re not living the way that we want to live at the moment and you can’t see anyone now we’re in Melbourne and in lockdown.
“It certainly has presented its challenges along the way, but the fact that I haven’t missed playing in any events and all of that to do with my career and to be able to be here and enjoy every single aspect of it without that worry and the stress with my tennis has been absolutely incredible.
“It’s certainly been an enjoyable time, even though it has had a few times where it hasn’t been quite the way you wanted it.”
THIS IS WHO I AM
When Stosur claimed the Spirit of Tennis award at last year’s Newcombe Medal, held at Crown Palladium in December, her speech was warm and heartfelt as she thanked those closest to her for their role in a career that has so far spanned two decades, saw her claim the 2011 US Open over Serena Williams and three grand slam doubles titles.
She was Australia’s top-ranked player for a record 452 weeks, and admitted she had at times contemplated opening up about her sexuality and relationship.
It hadn’t been the right time. The right place. The right moment. She valued her privacy – she always has.
But after the awards ceremony, as she walked to the car, “something didn’t feel right”.
She hadn’t thanked Liz, who has been by her side for a number of years.
“There’s been certainly moments throughout my life and my career where I’ve thought about putting it out there to the world and being a bit more open with my private life,” she said.
“But on the whole, I’m not really like that anyway. And the world only knows me because I’m a tennis player.
“So I kind of figured, I’m a tennis player, that’s what I am, that’s what I’m about, and kind of let my tennis do the talking. That’s kind of the approach that I had always taken throughout my career.
“In a lot of discussions with my coaches and sports psychologists, (and) talking with Liz, it’s certainly come up to put it out there in the past, but for whatever reason, I was never ready to do that.”
It was on Instagram the following day that Stosur took the plunge, thanking Liz – a former physical therapist for the Australian Fed Cup team, and who has often supported Stosur in her player box at tournaments since their relationship began – in a lengthy post.
“I had got to the point at Newcombe Medal, I was standing up on stage, and talking and talking and thanking all these people, and I got off and I remember walking to the carpark afterwards and something just didn’t feel right, because I thanked all these people who were obviously very, very important to me, but not my partner,” Stosur said.
“And she is a huge part of what I’ve been able to do, and who I am now, and everything. That just didn’t sit well with me.
“I thought, you know what, bugger this – I want to thank her, and I want to do this. That’s why I put it on Instagram. I’ve got older, I’m more mature, you kind of reflect more, think about things and thought, ‘well, you know what, this is who I am’.
“All my friends know, my family, anyone who knows me knows who I am and be proud of that. There’s nothing to worry about. And now I’ve got a daughter and I want to share that experience. It’s just been a progression through time.”
HOLDING COURT
Stosur’s tennis future has been a talking point in recent years, but she has revealed she will not return to the court this year as she, Liz and Evie find their groove as a family.
While COVID-19 continues to cast a cloud over upcoming grand slam plans and all seven WTA tournaments that were scheduled on the provisional 2020 calendar were on Friday cancelled, Stosur said she considered the uncertainty and restrictions too great to play again this year.
“With the schedule coming up, with COVID, with quarantine and with all the other things that you’re going to have to deal with, I’ve decided that I’m going to take the rest of the year off,” Stosur said.
“I’m going to stay here, enjoy being with my family, go through all those little milestones that Evie is going to have in the next six months and just really enjoy being home.
“Weighing up the pros and cons for me of going and travelling and what it’s going to take to have to do that, I decided that I didn’t want to do that.
“Now you’ve got to think about your family, not just yourself with these decisions, and I think this is the best way for me to spend the next six months is to be at home and be with her.”
She knows juggling tennis and being a mum “is going to present its challenges” but remains optimistic of playing in 2021, saying she hopes to have “at least another year” on the court.
Ideally, if the tennis world returns to something resembling normality, Stosur hopes that Liz and Evie will be able to join her on the tour.
If anything, the self-confessed training addict believes there may be benefits to playing as a parent.
“Many players have done this same thing, and I think the resounding comment is ‘I actually played better, and I enjoy it’ and you come off the court and you don’t worry about whether that was a bad loss, or whatever happened on court,” she said.
“You go out there and all that matters is being with them. I think that’s certainly going to be the case for me. Probably help relax me a little bit more as well, because there is something bigger and essentially more important than that one tennis match that you’ve just played.
“It’s making sure that they’re OK and you want to be with them. I’m actually looking forward to that prospect and being able to play, do my job, come home or if we’re on the road travelling, and enjoy those moments with her, because I think that’s something that’s going to be very special.”