Top-ranked Australian Sam Stosur hopes a far more low-profile preparation for this year’s Brisbane International will defy a trend of early exits in her home tournament.
The 2011 US Open champion fell in her opening match against American Varvara Lepchenko last year and is desperate to do better from the get-go in 2016 to improve on her current world ranking of No.27.
A former top five-ranked player, Stosur said her main aim was to break back into the top 20.
“It (No.27) is still nothing to sneeze at I guess but given where I have been in my career it’s certainly a fair bit lower than where I necessarily expect myself,” she said.
“This year I’d definitely like to improve on that and try and get myself back into the top 20 as soon as possible.
“The only way to do that is by winning matches and doing that consistently. I still feel like I’ve got that well within me, it’s just a matter of doing it.”
The 31-year-old said her inconsistent displays were really not much different to many of her rivals’ at this stage of the season as players returned from a break.
“It’s one of those things,” Stosur said. “Sometimes it’s hard without match play … without those kind of things under your belt the Australian summer can be very difficult.
“I’m not the only player to have lost early rounds and not have a good start to the season but because I’m Australian it gets highlighted.”