MELBOURNE SUMMER SET

January 3, 2022

Samantha Stosur

Press Conference

Q. Sam, it's a new year, a new summer of tennis. How are you feeling going into it?

SAM STOSUR: Yeah, I'm excited. It's great to get started again and have another opportunity to play here. Yeah, I feel like I'm playing well, I feel good, and now it's just going out there and having some fun.

Q. Obviously you've announced that this will be your last Australian summer for singles. How different does it feel?

SAM STOSUR: Well, to be honest, everything else is feeling very different to normal. Look, the preparation and everything else that you do is exactly the same. I'm still going into it preparing and doing everything I possibly can to try and have a good event.

You know, obviously it feels a little bit different being my last one, and there's more, I guess, I want to just really enjoy the moment and be out there and have some fun with it and just play well. The goal is to play well, and if I win, great; if I lose, so be it. Doesn't matter.

It's kind of one of those times where you can go out there and be like, there's really no real pressure, it's just about going out there and playing. I know the biggest thing will be my own expectation of trying to play well and doing what I want to do, and that's a unique position to be in, I think.

Q. How special will it be to kind of finish your singles career here in Melbourne?

SAM STOSUR: Yeah, I always thought I'd finish completely in Australia and kind of thought that was the way it was going to be, and then Shuai and I won the US Open, so I thought, I might keep going in doubles a little bit longer. But I think it's obviously my home Grand Slam, home country. Played here many, many times, so I thought it was the right place and right time to call it, and yeah, just very grateful that I've got another opportunity to do so.

Q. Wanted to check quickly about the vaccine mandate for players. It's obviously a very new thing for players to experience. Are you aware of other tournaments coming up in 2022 that might have similar rules in similar jurisdictions?

SAM STOSUR: I'm not aware of any specific event, but I know that it's certainly on the table and it's something that was being talked about last year. You know, Indian Wells did something I think sort of maybe similar, but to be honest, I haven't been paying much attention to what's coming up after Aussie summer just yet, but yeah, wouldn't surprise me if things like that do come in.

Q. Craig Tiley has indicated that there would be some players in Australia who are medically exempt, have successfully got an exemption. Would you personally have a problem with being across the net from someone who's been given that ruling, to play against them?

SAM STOSUR: No. I mean, look, I think if they've been given a medical exemption, then it's for a medical exemption, so I think you've got to do that. But yeah, hopefully it's for the right reasons and doing all of that. I think first and foremost Australia, especially in Victoria, it's been a tough slog the last two years, so I think for things to get turned around in another way for tennis players I don't think necessarily would be right, so as long as it's all for the right reasons and it is for true medical exemptions, then I don't think you can really argue with that.

Q. Sam, you've been known to get emotional on occasions with results. Do you think that could be the case whenever the last match is and there will be, for want of a different expression, that you could end up being a little bit of a blubbering mess on the court?

SAM STOSUR: Oh, for sure I'll be emotional and probably be a blubbering mess. I'll put it out there right now, and I'll probably be in tears and everything else. Yeah, look, I know I was going to be an emotional day for me, whatever day that ends up being, and I guess you've got to kind of be prepared for that day right from the beginning.

But like I said, I feel like the time is right. I'm happy with my decision.

I did go back and forth for a little while about it, but now that it's done, I feel good, and yeah, I know there's going to be tears, but it's not for necessarily stopping. It's obviously just been a huge part of my life, this sport, and my career and something I'm very proud of, and I think as soon as you walk away from anything like that, there's always going to be emotion involved.

Yeah, I know I'm going to look up into the stands and probably see my mom crying, and then I'll definitely be gone.

Q. Just on the future, you said this is the end of singles but you're planning on playing doubles.

SAM STOSUR: Mm-hmm.

Q. Do you know yet how many doubles events or where you might play doubles, and could 2022 be the last year all up, one more year of doubles and that's it? What's the plan?

SAM STOSUR: Yeah, Shuai and I have talked about -- we've got like a preliminary sort of schedule in mind. Yeah, it's really just the big events, trying to play like Indian Wells, Miami, your lead-up to Slams, and that's probably about it. All going well, hopefully my family can travel with me. That's the ultimate plan and goal, I guess. If things like that can't happen, then who knows. But yeah, I think I'm probably -- I mean, look, I think realistically this is probably AO completely for me, and yeah, if '22 ends up being it for the year, that's kind of -- I'm well aware that that's highly possible.

I think that's kind of what I'm playing towards and going to play this year like it is, and if something changes and I end up being able to do more, then great. But I think realistically that probably '22 is it.

Q. Just wanted to touch base with you about Astra Sharma's comments yesterday saying you were the inspiration behind her winning in Charleston last year, and we've already heard people like Daria Saville and Maddie Inglis talk about how you've been an inspiration for them and you've been someone they could lean on. How aware of that were you and the influence you could have on the younger players, especially probably in recent years, and do you see that being part of your post-tennis career?

SAM STOSUR: Yeah, look, I guess I'll answer the second bit first. I definitely would like that to be part of something that I'm involved in afterwards. I enjoy, I guess, trying to pass on knowledge or however you want to put it to my peers. Saying the younger players kind of feels weird because they're my peers and my friends and everything.

Look, I think there's obviously a lot of information I've been able to gather over my career that can be really useful to some younger players, and I'm always willing to kind of help out wherever possible if they need anything or want to know something or anything like that, and obviously we practice together a lot of the time at any event, whether we're in Australia or not.

That is certainly something I'm definitely interested in doing post playing and even now. I enjoy that side of tennis now for sure, and I think I've cared too much about the sport to not want to be involved in that sort of way.

Yeah, I actually did hear about that from -- not directly from Astra but through someone else, they told me that she told them about the Charleston win. Yeah, things like that definitely kind of make you feel good, and yeah, I definitely had my idols when I was growing up and to think that I might be that for some other players now I think is a pretty special place to be and something that I'm proud of. Yeah, that's really nice.

Q. You mentioned this could be and very much might be the last Australian Open singles and doubles. Take us behind the scenes a little bit of how you might approach that as far as treasuring every moment, doing little things that you can treasure in future years.

SAM STOSUR: I think, yeah, it's more -- the last couple years it's always been about trying to have joy out there and playing to enjoy it and just get anything you can out of yourself that's left. I mean, there's nothing to prove as such; it's just going out there and seeing how good you can be on this day.

I know I can still hit the ball well. I'm practicing great, feeling good and everything, and obviously it comes down to the day that you step out on court and play your match.

Yeah, I think just enjoying the moment. Obviously soaking up the atmosphere and the crowd again, it'll be amazing. Yeah, I think just going about it the same. You don't want to try and build it up to something and then you can't play or anything like that, but like I said to Craig, I know I'm going to be emotional. I know it's going to be a different prospect. But yeah, go out there, have fun, and I think, yeah, I said to Stubbsy the other day, I've got what I've got, so whatever that is, we'll see what it is on the day and go out there and have some fun.