the 2005 Australian Open with Scott Draper, the 2008 Wimbledon Championships with Bob Bryan, and the 2014 Wimbledon Championships with Nenad Zimonjić. Early life Stosur was born in Brisbane, Queensland and spent the first six years of her life living on the Gold Coast. She is the daughter of Tony and Diane, and has two brothers, Dominic and Daniel. The Stosur family is of Polish descent through Sam's paternal grandfather. When she was six, the family house and business on the Gold Coast were destroyed by a flood, and the family moved to Adelaide. There she started playing tennis, when she was given a racquet for Christmas at the age of eight. While her parents worked long hours at the cafe they had started, Stosur played at local courts with older brother Daniel, who later encouraged their parents to take her to tennis lessons. Her family returned to the Gold Coast when Stosur was 11 years of age. There she attended Helensvale State High School and Gaven State School. She went away on her first overseas trip at the age of 13, competing in the World Youth Cup in Jakarta, Indonesia. At the age of 14, Stosur joined the Queensland Academy of Sport (QAS) under Geoff Masters. In 2001, when she was 16, she joined the Australian Institute of Sport tennis program. Tennis career Early years Stosur first played professional tennis in 1999 at the age of 15 at an ITF Women's Circuit event in her home state of Queensland where she claimed a straight sets first round victory in the qualifying draw before losing her second round qualifying match (2–6, 6–3, 3–6). In 2000, she debuted at the Australian Open losing in the first qualifying round. In the following year, she won four straight ITF titles. In 2002, she lost in the first round at the Gold Coast hardcourts event. In 2003, Stosur won her first WTA Tour singles matches, reaching the third round of the Australian Open. She lost in the third round to No. 7 seed, Daniela Hantuchová. She also qualified for the WTA event in Memphis. In 2004, Stosur reached the semifinals of the Gold Coast event, before falling to Ai Sugiyama. She reached the second round of the Hobart International, then the second round of the Australian Open, and later qualified for WTA events in Acapulco, Indian Wells, Vienna and Birmingham. Stosur competed at the