TENNIS in DEPTH.

Even their most optimistic fans hold little hope for either Casey Dellacqua or Samantha Stosur to make it into the second week of the Ladies Singles Championship at the 2009 Australian Open. Both girls will be playing in front of their home country fans, and the cheers of encouragement will resound around the courts. The Australian fans are starved for a lady champion. Some of the older ones can still recall the 11 titles that Margaret Court won, and the 4 that Evonne Goolagong won, but its been a long time since another Aussie female has reached the final.
Casey is the highest ranked of the two in singles, and has had some success playing against the top 10 players. She is ranked 49, and in the 2008 Australian Open she beat both Amalie Mauresmo and Patty Schnyder on her way to reaching the quarter finals. With a little luck in the draw she might just make it into week two.
Samantha(Sam to her friends) Stosur is currently ranked 73, she missed a good part of the season through illness which caused her to drop down in the rankings, she reached the quarter finals of the Korean Open earlier this year for her best singles performance for quite a while. She will play in two more events before the end of the year then head ‘home’ to Australia for the summer. She splits her time between Australia and Florida.
For both these talented Aussies its in Doubles where they shine, and one or both might hold the Australian flag with pride as they are crowned Australian Champion.
In 2006 Sam Stosur was ranked the Number 1 doubles player, and with her partner Lisa Raymond they won the US Open in 2005, were runners up in the 2006 Aussie Open, and won the French Open at Roland Garros. They reached the final of the US Open in 2008 where they lost to Cara Black and Liezel Huber in a very close match that they should have won.
Casey reached the finals of the French Open in 2008 with her Italian partner Francesca Schiavone. As a player on the ITF womens circuit Casey won 11 singles titles and 13 doubles titles, so she knows how to win. Like every Australian Player she admires legend Margaret Court, but concedes that such dominance by a single player today is practically impossible.
Both Casey and Sam have been coached by Dave Taylor, this is a new relationship for Sam who has played without a coach for quite a while, she claims to be in the best condition of her life, and the quality of her game is at an all time high. There is no record of the two ladies ever playing together as doubles partners, maybe they never will, but it would seem that for a country to have two doubles payers of such high quality the occasion for them to team up must have presented itself. Let’s hope the Australian tennis fans are in for a surprise in January.

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• Heart Award nominees announced.
• Williams sisters on track to meet in the semi finals.

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