Sam Stosur says she has no qualms about no longer being the centre of attention when it comes to expectation and pressure on Australia's tennis stars.
The 32-year-old remains Australia's highest-ranked female player, however the spotlight has well and truly shifted its focus during the past couple of years.
Not in the spotlight: Samantha Stosur is happy just to focus on what she needs to do.
Photo: Getty ImagesFor a long time Stosur came into the Australian summer with the weight of the world on her shoulders trying to live up to the hype and expectation surrounding her.
However, the emergence of Nick Kyrgios, the attention on Bernard Tomic and the breakthrough of Daria Gavrilova has seen that change.
Stosur knows it too, but the Queenslander says she has no issue being the sideshow now.
"Yeah probably," Stosur said when asked if she had noticed the change.
"I guess that's maybe a good thing about there being a couple of other people highly ranked. It is what it is. If I was the centre of attention again that's fine. If I'm not then that's fine too. You just try and win your matches and focus on yourself anyway.
"It's kind of up to you guys or not whether I'm the underdog. That depends on how much you want to write about me. Look there's obviously a lot of attention on Nick and Dasha at the moment and that's fine. That allows me to concentrate on myself and what I need to do. That's the most important thing for me. I'm ready to be prepared and play my matches."
Stosur has returned to Sydney after a first-round loss to Spaniard Garbine Muguruza in Brisbane earlier in the week, going down 7-5, 6-7, 7-5 in a hard-fought match against the world No.7.
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