Samantha Stosur: Will Her Kick Serve Work in 2013?

The girl with a helium high kick serve, Samantha Stosur had a disappointing 2012 campaign as she did not win even one WTA Tour title as compared to her lonely title in 2011. Along with Petra Kvitova and Na Li, Stosur followed a year comprising of bitter disappointment along with some success. With some impressive and deep runs at the US Open and French Open, Stosur balanced these with some sloppy and unceremonious exits at the Australian Open and Wimbledon. Looking at the way Stosur plays, one must expect a rollercoaster when it comes to her results in the upcoming season.

When it comes to the Australian's strengths, her greatest and the most reliable weapon is her serve. If that takes a backseat, her forehand works well too. She also possesses the strength to match some of the big hitters in WTA like Serena Williams and Maria Sharapova. Though she is not mentally strong, she definitely has the guns to beat the top notches with her brutal power. She is not one of those players who expect their opponents to commit the error.

On the downside, her unpredictability at events hurts her the most. She beats some good players but ends up losing to some lower ranked players. Once down, she takes a lot of time to recover from the dip that she ends up fighting for a lost cause. Also she does not have a great head to head record with the players ranked higher to her, proving how much she struggles with players ranked above her. Her erratic tennis gives her opponents a chance to just play consistent tennis and outplay the Australian.

What are her chances at her home Grand Slam? Well, looking at her past record it doesn't seem bright. Stosur fails to take advantage of the home crowd as her best appearance at the Grand Slam of the Asia Pacific has been a fourth round stint and that too just twice in 2006 and then 2010. She has admitted that she fails to cope up with the pressure that surrounding her, something we saw at this year's Australian Open. The local girl lost in surprising fashion when she was ousted in the first round by Sorana Cirstea.

What can help the Australian fans get more of their favorite would be a favorable draw backed with the correct mindset. Stosur also would need all the support that she can gather to drive herself deep into the tournament, the courts of which can really suit her playing style.

Karen Samartha Walker is associated with the leading tennis website TennisEarth. Over the years, http://www.tennisearth.com has been proving instrumental in nurturing grass-root level tennis. TennisEarth has its unique Rating System for professional and amateur players with other revolutionary tennis development and promotion features and tools i.e. Live Tennis Commentary, Tennis Exchange Game and Tennis Learning Programs.