George Christensen (Dawson, National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I would like to add my congratulations to Sam Stosur on her win in the US Open. The grand slam title is well deserved and comes as no surprise as Aussie tennis fans have followed Sam's career closely and have watched this star steadily rising. While this title is a further boost to Sam Stosur's career, it is also another boost to sport across this nation. It is a reminder to young girls, in particular, that reaching the heights of this international sport and many other international sports is possible. I am sure this month will see thousands of youngsters picking up a tennis racquet, probably for the first time, or just renewing their interest in the sport and helping to develop a more active and healthy future for Australia.

It is unfortunate that my electorate of Dawson cannot lay claim to Sam Stosur as a constituent, but I would like to raise a distinctively North Queensland piece of Stosur history. It is a story that was repeated in the Townsville Bulletin the day after Sam's historic US Open win. Ten years ago, Sam Stosur played in the Australian Unity Home Hill International, which is in my electorate. She was playing well and was on a 25-match winning streak, including the pro-tour North Queensland series in Cairns. However, the 17-year-old Stosur lost her quarter final match in Home Hill. Home Hill fan Kate Casswell last week reported that she could not remember if Stosur had won or lost the quarter final but remembered the future star standing out with her ability to serve and volley. Of the match, Ms Casswell said, 'The reason I remember her game was because her game was scheduled to be played at 7 pm but there was a cane fire and smoke was wafting across the court so they had to delay the start.'

Luke Hartsuyker (Cowper, National Party, Deputy Manager of Opposition Business in the House) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Only in the country!

George Christensen (Dawson, National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Only in the country; only in the Burdekin! The match was in October 2001 and, at this time of year, the Burdekin sugar industry is firing cane fields in preparation for the crush. It is an impressive sight, in an iconic part of North Queensland—although I am not sure if Sam would have such fond recollections, given that she may have lost there. But it was certainly a memorable night for Home Hill, and I am sure young tennis players across the Burdekin, North Queensland and the rest of Australia will be inspired to follow their dreams in the same way that Sam Stosur has followed hers. So my congratulations to Sam Stosur, her family and the team around her that helped bring this honour to our nation.

Teresa Gambaro (Brisbane, Liberal Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Citizenship and Settlement) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I would also like to add to those of other speakers my sincere congratulations to Sam Stosur on her victory at the US Open. It has been an amazing achievement for Australia and an amazing achievement for Sam. Sam is now the first Australian female singles Grand Slam champion in 31 years after Evonne Goolagong Cawley.

Sam was born in Brisbane, so I will claim that ownership of her. She trained at the Queensland Academy of Sport and the Australian Institute of Sport. At the age of 12, Sam Stosur was discovered by Robert Beak at a Brisbane tennis court and ever since she has been a great tennis icon.

Samantha joins the ranks of tennis greats such as Margaret Smith Court, who is regarded by some as the greatest female tennis player of all time, and former World No. 1 Evonne Goolagong Cawley, who was one of the world's leading players in the 1970s and 1980s, when she won 14 Grand Slam titles: seven in the singles—four Australian Open, two Wimbledon and one French Open—six in the women's doubles, and one in the mixed doubles. And before Margaret and Evonne, Australia heralded the success of Nancye Wynne Bolton in 1951 when she won her sixth singles title at the Australian Open championship. To quote Pat Rafter, Stosur is a great role model for the next generation of players, because of her persistence and work ethic. 'She's a great girl and she's worked really hard,' he said. So we congratulate Sam on her wonderful achievement.

Women's tennis in Australia is extremely healthy, with Sam Stosur leading the way and providing a positive role model for our next generation. Nicole Pratt has been appointed AIS head women's coach and is working with both the younger athletes and some of Australia's top female players. So the sport is in very good hands. I want to take this opportunity to wish Australia's next generation of female players, the ones who are training with the AIS, all the very best for the future. The current squad includes a couple of Queenslanders—there are always a few Queenslanders there to help lead the way—Isabella Holland and Ashleigh Barty. There are also a couple of Victorians: Sally Peers and Belinda Woolcock. These young women would no doubt be interested to know that women's tennis tournaments in Australia date back more than 100 years, and interstate tennis was established by 1908, when the Queensland Ladies' Interstate Tennis Team counted as its team members May Thurlow, Maud Larad, Eva Thurlow and Florence Horton.

In my electorate of Brisbane, the Fancutt Tennis Centre and Coaching Academy is celebrating 50 years of existence this year. In this time the tennis centre has been owned and run by the Fancutt family, all five of whom are former Wimbledon players. Daphne Fancutt, then known as Seeney—she is the aunt of the Queensland opposition leader, Jeff Seeney—was the 1956 Wimbledon ladies doubles finalist and the 1956 Australian Open singles semifinalist. Former World No. 1 players, people like Steffi Graf, Rod Laver, Bjorn Borg and Ivan Lendl are among the top players who, along with so many locals and visitors, have enjoyed a hit at the Fancutt Tennis Centre in Lutwyche in my electorate. There have been many young students who have started playing tennis there and who have gone on to play at Wimbledon—something that we should be very proud of. The first two great tennis players to do that were Wendy Turnbull and Geoff Masters. With all of this tennis history, I am absolutely thrilled to be here today to again congratulate Sam Stosur on her achievement in winning the US Open. Sam, we are so very proud of you. All of Australia cheered. We wish you and your teammates all the very best for the future. Well done.

Luke Hartsuyker (Cowper, National Party, Deputy Manager of Opposition Business in the House) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise to celebrate the remarkable and historic victory by Samantha Stosur in the US Open. Stosur's win in straight sets was the first Grand Slam victory by an Australian woman in 31 years. While this achievement is remarkable of itself, the manner in which Stosur won the final was truly extraordinary. She was powerful, accurate, poised and remained in control of her game even though her opponent's outbursts at the umpire made for very interesting viewing on the TV. She played the match of her life against a multiple Grand Slam winner and former world No. 1 and came out on top. But if we look past the triumph of her victory we find that Stosur's journey to glory at Flushing Meadows was not easy.

Stosur has played tennis since she was a young girl. She trained at the Queensland Academy of Sport as a teenager and later at the Australian Institute of Sport. She began her professional career in 1999 and saw limited success for a number of years. In 2005, she reached the final of the WTA event on the Gold Coast. Stosur won the mixed doubles title with Scott Draper at the Australian Open in that year. She then teamed up with American Lisa Raymond to win seven doubles titles in 2005, finishing the year ranked No. 2 in the world in women's doubles. By 2006, Stosur and Raymond were ranked No. 1 in the world in doubles, at one stage winning 18 matches in a row.

In 2007, Stosur's form dropped when she was diagnosed with Lyme disease, a tick-borne illness which can cause severe fatigue. The disease forced her to take an extended break from the game as she fought to recover. To her credit, Stosur fought back from her illness and began her rise through the world rankings. In 2009, she reached the semifinals at the French Open and, in Japan, won her first WTA singles event. In 2010, Stosur beat three former No. 1 players on the road to the final of the French Open, which she unfortunately lost. After a difficult start to the 2011 season she has finally broken through to win the most coveted of tennis prizes: a Grand Slam event.

Her victory this week is a triumph of persistence and determination. Unlike so many of the great players in world tennis, she did not burst onto the scene as a precocious teenager. Her success has come through hard work and sacrifice. Her fans marvel at her powerful groundstrokes, delicate volleys and pinpoint serves; however, we do not get to see the countless hours of practice and training. We are not privy to the moments of self-doubt. We do not experience the sweat, tears and loneliness of practice on deserted outside courts. For her, every victory was difficult. She had to fight through the longest-ever women's match at the US Open and the longest tiebreaker in women's tennis history.

Off the court Stosur has been recognised for her efforts to promote tennis and connect with the media and sponsors. Last year she received the WTA Diamond Aces Award in recognition of her efforts on and off the court. Tennis Australia has high hopes that Stosur's success will translate into increased participation in junior tennis. I recently had the privilege of experiencing the Hot Shots and Cardio Tennis programs when Tennis Australia visited Parliament House.

Tennis is an enjoyable and rewarding sport, and I trust the success of Samantha Stosur will translate to increased participation in that wonderful sport. Australia values its sporting heroes, and Samantha Stosur has been elevated to the very highest echelon of modern Australian legends. She can be very proud of her achievements, and I sincerely hope this victory is not the last Grand Slam win for Samantha Stosur.

It is also appropriate to mention Stosur's coach, David Taylor. Stosur praised Taylor for continuing to believe in her through her difficult start to the 2011 season. Coaches are often the first to be criticised when things are going wrong and the last to be congratulated when things are going well, so it is to his credit that David has stuck by Sam through the good times and the bad.

On behalf of the residents of my electorate I extend my warmest congratulations to Sam Stosur and wish her every success into the future.

Luke Simpkins (Cowan, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I will take this opportunity to pay tribute to the wonderful effort of Samantha Stosur in her victory at the US Open tennis tournament on 12 September 2011. Everyone who watched the game—in Australia, anyway—was thrilled with her achievement in becoming the first Australian woman to win the US Open since Margaret Court's day. Sporting success at the highest level is the result of skill, physical fitness and mental toughness. What we see at the victorious end of the championship final is the culmination of an elite athlete putting together all these factors. We the spectators do not see the endless hours of repetitive training and cross-training in skills, fitness and strength. We do not see the early mornings, the long hours or the injuries that come on the long path to success. We do not share the times of physical exhaustion, agony and self-doubt when we watch the final hours of the tournament and the lifting of the trophy. But what we and all Australians should acknowledge is that Samantha Stosur's great victory was created over many years of self-sacrifice and dedication. It was not luck, her turn or as a result of any greater reason than sheer determination, great skill, together with physical and mental toughness.

In watching the final I appreciated the superb shape that Sam Stosur was in. Clearly, she is a lady whose training regime includes weight training and that has assisted her in being in top condition. I sometimes wonder whether she is as tall as she looks but, when I saw Serena Williams standing next to her, she still looked smaller than Williams. I recall on that Monday morning watching the game on the television in the gym here in Parliament House and the first set had just ended. Clearly, Stosur was in command. However, as the first couple of games of the second set passed, we saw the crowd become almost ferocious in its support of Williams, a bit like the ferocity Williams displayed towards the umpire in the match. Williams fought back and broke Stosur and, for just two games, it looked as though Williams was on her way back. However, as testament to Stosur's mental fitness, she fired two aces and reverted to the dominant display that saw her win the first set. She then went on to win the remaining games of the match.

It was particularly at the start of the second set that the crowd strongly backed Williams and the applause for a Williams point was almost deafening. The tiered seating at such venues ensures that the enthusiasm and the noise of the crowd are focused on the players. Stosur was reported as saying: 'You know, it was probably the loudest I ever felt a crowd in my whole life. You're right in the middle of it. For sure it was difficult to stay focused and then obviously the crowd got heavily involved.'

In watching the match it was clear that the crowd lifted early in the second set and it was without any doubt that they wanted Williams to win. The timing of the match, being September 11, may well have been a factor but, in any case, it would have been extremely difficult for Stosur to continue playing at her best. It is therefore right that I make mention of these conditions as a factor when considering exactly what sort of an achievement this win was: a premier event, a very partisan crowd and against a very tough and in-form opponent.

As I said before, these accomplishments are achieved over long periods and when all aspects of one's training are brought together well. As has been reported, after suffering a disappointing third-round loss in South Carolina in April, Stosur worked with the Australian Institute of Sport psychologist Ruth Anderson. Apparently, it was quite a challenging time for Stosur but, again, it comes down to an elite athlete acknowledging the limitations in themselves, determining to be the best person they can be and, in this case, working to lift her mental toughness and position herself psychologically to strengthen her self-belief. Again, this is not something we are along to observe when we watch the final but it is, nevertheless, a vital aspect of an elite sportsperson as they strive to bring all factors together at the right time in order to achieve a victory.

Clearly, the struggle that Samantha Stosur has had and that which has held her back is her psychological resilience. A champion athlete, she has had her great skills and physical strength, and her overall performance, held back by this shortcoming on the psychological side. That shortcoming has clearly been fixed, as she overcame the most difficult of psychological challenges, being up against a very famous and very tough opponent in a very hostile venue.

I suspect that Samantha Stosur is ready, willing and now very able to take her place at the very top of competitive women's tennis and that we will regularly see her in semifinals and finals of the major tennis tournaments and, I hope, regularly winning them. I also suspect that the days of sleeping in dodgy hotels and scrimping and saving will become distant memories for Samantha Stosur.

I take this opportunity to congratulate her on her stunning victory in the US Open. May there be many more. I also hope that the children of Australia look to her as an example of how great success is achieved through hard work and dedication to your dreams, rather than a misplaced belief in luck.

Michael McCormack (Riverina, National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

With a decisive forehand backed by a determination which has defined her tennis career, Australia's latest tennis ace Samantha Stosur reached the top with her magnificent grand slam glory. Her United States Open win this month at Flushing Meadows, New York elevates her to a place amongst the best this nation has produced. What a pantheon of greats—a hall of fame on the women's side, which includes such notables as Margaret Court, from Albury, and Griffith-born Evonne Goolagong Cawley, Barellan's golden girl from the Riverina. What wonderful role models Margaret and Evonne are, particularly for youth, particularly for girls and especially for those from regional Australia. Sam Stosur now joins those former champions as someone to look up to, particularly for youth, particularly for girls. Kids need heroes and heroines. They need superstars they can have as pin-up posters in their bedrooms, superstars they can pretend to be as they play their backyard versions of Flushing Meadows, Wimbledon, the Melbourne Cricket Ground, Sydney Olympic Park, Lang Park or whatever the case might be—their own field of dreams.

Sam Stosur has now gone all the way from being a 10-year-old with golden locks to gracing the world stage and being the best. That word 'gracing' is significant. Not only did Sam prove her skills with racquet in hand, defeating American Serena Williams in the final in straight sets 6-2, 6-3, but she did so with good manners, dignity and poise. What a role model. In her winning address to the arena, Sam said, 'This was a dream of mine to be here one day.' Enough said. For every athlete, scientist or even politician the dream is the same and the dream is different. The goal is a grand slam, a medical breakthrough, a pleasing result for a constituent—all of which signal we are doing our best; we are doing the right thing. Sam Stosur's triumph reminds us all of the dreams and visions we have for our jobs, our roles and our lives.

The Tour de France win of Cadel Evans saw an instant rise in bike sales, and I am sure Sam's win will inspire thousands of children, especially with the onset of warmer weather, to pick up a tennis racquet and have a go. That is what life is all about: having a go; trying hard; doing our best.

Coincidentally, little more than an hour after Sam's success I caught up with Evonne Goolagong Cawley who was in Parliament House as a patron of the Learn Earn Legend! Work Experience in Government program. She was understandably elated with Sam's terrific win and the image it will set for Australian tennis. She was also overjoyed when I told her Barellan had just recently won the Northern Riverina Football League premiership with the very last kick of the match against Lake Cargelligo in the grand final at West Wyalong. You can take the girl out of Barellan but you cannot take her heart away from her home town, the place where the townsfolk have a giant racquet and ball in the main street in her honour.

Sport plays such a significant role in bringing communities across Australia together. People such as Evonne, Margaret and now Sam have that rare ability to unite a nation. May Sam continue to do so for many more tournaments to come.

Jane Prentice (Ryan, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

What a year for Australian sport—winning the Bledisloe Cup, Sally Pearson running a world-championship-winning 100-metre hurdles, Cadel Evans winning the Tour de France and now Samantha Stosur becoming the Women's US Tennis Open Champion; indeed, the first Australian since Margaret Smith Court in 1963. Interestingly, both Sally Pearson and Sam Stosur went to the same school.

Australia is known for its sporting prowess, and I think there are very few people who can remember growing up without the memory of backyard cricket, kicking a ball around or swimming at the beach. But, while we all grow up with these great sporting memories, the feats of our sporting champions like Samantha Stosur take years of sacrifice and dedication and a driving ambition to reach the pinnacle of their particular sport.

Samantha Stosur has this in droves—natural talent combined with a will to win. She is an inspiration not only to our young tennis players but to all who strive to achieve their best in their chosen field. This is particularly the case with Sam, as not too long ago she was sidelined for a year of her career, suffering from the debilitating Lyme disease. This illness happened at a time when Sam was just hitting her stride as a single player and, as we all know, a year out from the intense training and tour circuit with which all your competitors are engaged puts you a long way behind the pack. This illness definitely seems to have left its mark on Sam, who lists one of her greatest fears in life as 'deer tick-carrying Lyme disease'. But, more than that, Sam is quoted as stating that it was this time away from the game—not by choice—that taught her to evaluate what she really wanted from the game and truly appreciate the opportunities she had to achieve her ambition to become a tennis champion. She has, without doubt, engaged this attitude, and we as Australians can now celebrate our first women's grand slam winner in 31 years.

One of the great things about Sam Stosur and her win is that it shows what can be achieved with perseverance and a willingness to take help from others and re-evaluate your life. Sam tells stories of how devoted and supportive her entire family was to her love of tennis. It was her brother who originally convinced their parents to put Sam into tennis lessons at the age of 13. After joining the Queensland Academy of Sport and later the Australian Institute of Sport Sam travelled the gruelling satellite tours on a shoestring budget, even sleeping at a Japanese train station on a makeshift bed of bags strapped together, with pillows from the plane. In typical Aussie style though, Sam notes this as one of her favourite memories. Therein lies one of the reasons for Sam's tremendous following around Australia. She has a great humility and extreme generosity. She loves to compete and cares far more about the sport and playing than she does about the fanfare and success.

While we are celebrating Sam Stosur's US Open win, it has long been known that, on the court, Sam has sometimes being overcome by self-doubt and, while always giving it her all, has sometimes fallen at the last hurdle unable to break through her own psyche. I think that this is, in part, what makes Sam's win so inspiring. She had the courage to ask for help to overcome the mental challenges of the game and acknowledged that physical fitness is not the only factor for success. This is an important message for all Australians, be they aspiring sporting champions or not, that mental wellbeing is just as important in life as physical wellbeing, and that is it okay to ask for outside help to get a different perspective on your problems and concerns. It helped Sam Stosur win the US Open and that is a pretty big endorsement.

I know that Sam would also want us to acknowledge the invaluable contribution of her support team, all of whom are Tennis Australia employees. Sam's success is also a great achievement for that organisation, which has been with Sam from the beginning and has encouraged her to take full advantage of the resources that were made available to her through the programs. Winning a grand slam is not something you achieve on your own and not many people win these titles. After all, it has been 31 years since Evonne Goolagong Cawley's Wimbledon win of 1980.

The good news for Australia is that people do not need to travel overseas to see Sam in action. Tennis Australia is delighted that Sam is a confirmed starter for the Brisbane International in January 2012. This is very good news for her growing number of younger fans. Tennis Australia has advised me that, in the past few weeks, there has been a huge increase in the number of young girls taking up tennis, so now her influence has transcended from the tennis court to every household in Australia. Director Craig Tiley on behalf of the whole team at Tennis Australia described Sam as:

… a very special person who has had to endure significant hardship, but has always had a planned pathway to success. We are particularly proud of the way she has gone about her journey. We are certain that this is just the beginning for Sam, and that this is the first of many great accomplishments with many more to achieve.

I am pleased to have this opportunity to join with many others congratulating Samantha Stosur on her inspiring US Open tennis grand slam win. She is truly a young Australian woman of whom we are all very proud. She is a great ambassador for tennis, a great ambassador for women and a great ambassador for Australia.

Kelly O'Dwyer (Higgins, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I think that was a wonderful speech by the member for Ryan and I share in all the sentiments that she expressed. In fact, I stand here today on behalf of my constituents in Higgins to also congratulate Sam Stosur for her wonderful achievement in winning the 2011 US Open. She has, in doing that, sealed her place in the pantheon of Australian sporting legends. She has done her country proud. She joins such luminaries as Margaret Court, the last woman to win the US Open in 1973, as well as Evonne Goolagong Cawley, who won her second Wimbledon in 1980, which of course was the last time an Australian woman won a grand slam tournament. It has been a long time between drinks, but what a win it was. To defeat Serena Williams, a 13-time major championship winner, was an achievement. It was an achievement that all of us congratulate her for. It is a particularly significant achievement when you also consider that this is Sam Stosur's very first win. She is 27 years of age, which is an age when many sporting commentators say that people are past their prime. I am delighted that she has been able to prove those people wrong, and has been able to prove it with such aplomb. Sam Stosur has gone through a number of battles, as has been mentioned, throughout her tennis career. The most significant, of course, was her battle with Lyme disease, which took her off the circuit and forced her to evaluate her tennis career. However, she demonstrated to all Australians just how you go about being a winner: through perseverance, through dedication, through hard work and, of course, through skill. She was able to achieve that, and we saw that just recently.

But she had many achievements before this grand slam win. In fact, she has been on the circuit for quite some time, starting at the very tender age of 13 at the World Youth Cup in Jakarta, her first international tournament. At 14 she became very serious about tennis, joining the Queensland Academy of Sport under Geoff Masters, and in 2001, at the age of 16, she joined the Australian Institute of Sport's tennis program. She is a doubles champion, winning the US Open doubles final in 2005, and was a runner-up in the Australian Open doubles in 2006. She won the French Open doubles in 2006 and was ranked No. 1 doubles player in the world with partner Lisa Raymond in that year. Unfortunately, she was not able to defeat Francesca Schiavone, the winner of the French Open, in 2010, but she came very close and we congratulate her for persevering and becoming such a wonderful champion, as demonstrated with her terrific win at the US Open.

She is a very inspirational player. She is somebody who is a great role model for all Australians, but in particular young women. I know that for many years to come she will take that role very seriously not only in the way that she continues to achieve on the court but also in the contribution she makes off the court. So we congratulate Sam Stosur; her mother, Dianne; her father, Tony; and her brothers, Dominic and Daniel. We congratulate all of those people who have helped her to achieve in her career, because nobody achieves these things alone; and we congratulate, most importantly, Sam Stosur.

John Alexander (Bennelong, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I would also like to speak about Sam Stosur, somebody who I had the pleasure of working with in 2005 as the Fed Cup captain. I quickly got to know Sam very well. We went to India to compete in the Fed Cup and then on to the French Open, Wimbledon and the US Open. I had some great insight into Sam and her young development, because one of my great friends and colleagues at the time, Geoff Masters, had been her coach. He had told me of the time lapse in when he would arrive for his practice sessions with her after school, as she had a timetable that allowed her to arrive early. Unlike an average 14- or 15-year-old girl, Sam would practice her serve. It was interesting to see that later in her career—her very young career at that point—her serve became her great weapon. I maintained at the time that it was a reasonably modest claim that Sam had the greatest second serve in the history of women's tennis.

I have made other claims about Sam, and at times I was ridiculed for my overzealous support of my young player. This came on the eve of Wimbledon, after a season that had had mixed results for Sam. While she had started the year by getting to the finals in Brisbane and in Sydney and had had chances to win, at that final hurdle she became a little unsure of herself, not believing or understanding the full extent of her talent. This, maybe, was revisited in Birmingham, which is just a week prior to Wimbledon, when she played the defending champion, Maria Sharapova, in a relatively noisy match. Maria had won Wimbledon the previous year at just 18 years of age and was thought to be a hot favourite again. Sam played a most magnificent match. She lost closely—6-4 in the third set. She served and volleyed beautifully. She displayed her athletic ability and her ability to volley. Her ability to play a greater depth of tennis was growing; it was no longer just a 'serve and go for a winner' approach. She was maturing.

After this match, in talking to the press, as you do, I ventured the opinion that if a young 18-year-old Sharapova could win Wimbledon so could Sam. This was written about and in fact Patrick Smith, who at the time wrote that it was a silly thing for me to have said, has now actually written an apology and acknowledged that I had shown some foresight. There were even those within Tennis Australia who thought that I was silly at the time. I hope they think this no more, although I have not received a letter of apology from them.

Sam has gone on to be a finalist at the French and now she has had this triumph—these results come from the accumulation of many losses. There is a saying in tennis that you only learn from your losses and that your greatness comes from how you deal with a loss. If you learn and then go back onto the practice court, work with your coach and practice the things that led to that loss, you are taking full responsibility for that loss and you are doing something about it; you are not admitting that you are a loser. This has certainly been the course that Sam Stosur has chosen to follow. It is not an easy course. There have been many great disappointments. Sometimes with great expectation, when you have losses, they are that much more difficult to handle.

During the year of 2005, we had a team saying—when times got really tough and these difficult moments of loss occurred, we would ask each other what time it was and the answer had to come back, 'The best time of my life.' After nearly beating Maria Sharapova at Birmingham, Sam was injured the next day and was unable to practise for the next nine days prior to Wimbledon. She practised briefly on the Saturday, she practised a little bit on the Sunday and she lost to a player in the first round of Wimbledon. This is why my predictions of her possibly winning the event were not seen to be good—they were about a girl who had only ever once played at Wimbledon and who had only once won a match.

Later on in the year, at the US Open, she lost in the first round again. Attesting to her character, she then picked up and played in the doubles event—and won it. That not only gave her that fabulous first grand slam win, it also made her the No. 1 female doubles player in the world. You can see that path from the disappointment of the first round loss, through what she has taken from the many losses and some successes, to arrive on the centre court on this historic date to play Serena Williams.

You have to understand the role that Serena and her sister have played in this sport. They have taken this sport from being very much an elite and white sport in the US. There had been two great black American players preceding them: Althea Gibson, who was the first black American to win Wimbledon in 1956, the year that Lew Hoad won, and the great Arthur Ashe—the stadium is named after Arthur Ashe. They were two players, in combination with Evonne Goolagong, who did much to broaden the appeal of the game.

The Williams sisters have done something in tennis that has not been done by anyone else in men's or women's tennis—they played each other in four consecutive grand slam events. This was during a time when women's tennis had gone from strength to strength, not the time when Billie Jean King and Margaret Court dominated the sport and there might have been only two or three other really great female competitors. These days there are 20 or 30—you do not know where the winners are going to come from in these grand slam events. These two girls, Serena and Venus, have dominated the sport during an era which has seen the likes of Steffi Graf—who may have been the greatest of all time, although Serena could also make that claim.

So for Sam to come to this historic stadium, on this historic date, to play this player who has so dominated women's tennis, and to have the calm and the maturity to play the match of her life is the sum total of her career. She has not won Wimbledon yet, but we keep our fingers crossed.

On the day that Sam lost in the first round of the US Open in 2005, after the long walk from an outside court to the locker room, I asked Sam, 'What time is it?' and she said, 'This is not the best day of my life!' I would like to reflect that the world has made a number of turns since that day—that day of learning—and I would say that the day that she beat Serena was the best day of her life.

So hearty congratulations to Sam. As much as she has done, there is a lot more to come. She has been the beneficiary of a lot of great help; David Taylor, who has taken her to this new stage, should also be congratulated. But there is no doubt that Sam's best tennis is yet to come and, as she has been so appreciative of the help she has received, there is no doubt that she will contribute to the further development of the sport in Australia.

Dan Tehan (Wannon, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

It is a great pleasure to follow the member for Bennelong, because I had great delight in pointing out to him last week an article by Patrick Smith on the back page of the Australian, which was really all about those who laugh last laughing the loudest. A few years ago the member for Bennelong was held to ridicule, I think it is fair to say, for making the call about Sam Stosur that she would go on to win a grand slam. Showing great foresight, great vision and great knowledge of the game, Mr Alexander has proven himself correct, and a great identifier and spotter of tennis talent in this country. I congratulate him on that, because the media can be a vicious game, and he had put himself out there by making what I think was a very brave call in the media, which the public could see—very much as he is doing now as the member for Bennelong—and he has been proved right.

And I congratulate Sam Stosur for helping to prove he was right! She had done so incredibly well. She is the first female tennis player to win a grand slam for Australia since Evonne Goolagong Cawley in 1980. What a great tennis player she was. They both, of course, follow in the fine traditions of Margaret Court. I grew up with a father who was a very keen tennis player and loved to regale us with stories about the great players, and he thought that the best Australian female tennis player we had ever seen was Margaret Court. He used to tell me a lot about her famous victories, especially in grand slams. I was privileged enough to watch Evonne Goolagong, as she was then, win Wimbledon in 1980 on the television, and I have to say it was a courageous win and a fantastic win. The way she represented not only Australia but also our Indigenous communities was an absolute credit to her.

It is terrific now that Sam Stosur has followed in those illustrious footsteps. It has not been easy for her. Over her career, she has had to fight injury. She also had to fight through a stage in the nineties when tennis, especially female tennis, in Australia really declined, and she has very much led the charge to get women's tennis back up to the place it should be—that is, where we are competing for grand slam titles.

The way Sam won that US Open final was also terrific. It was not easy for her. She had tough matches right through. Then, when it came to the final, in coming up against a Williams sister—as my learned friend in these matters, the member for Bennelong, said—it was probably the greatest battle that she was ever going to fight in her life and she did it with style. Let us not forget the background to it as well, because in that match the whole of the crowd was rooting for a US victory. Sadly, there was a little bit of bad sportsmanship and a little bit of egging on to get the crowd really eager for that US victory. She had the mental strength—and I think there were some that had questioned whether Sam did have the mental strength—to put all that behind her, and she single-handedly and determinedly went about securing what was a magnificent victory.

Once again, I congratulate Sam Stosur on a magnificent performance. A would also like to congratulate the member for Bennelong for having the foresight to see her greatness those many years ago.

Yvette D'Ath (Petrie, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Order! It being 12.30 debate is interrupted in accordance with standing order 192.