Melbourne - Samantha Stosur insisted her best years are still ahead of her after another failure at the Australian Open, and said her immediate goal was getting back into the world top 10.
The Australian has gained a reputation for wilting under the pressure of playing in front of her home crowd, and she once again threw away a lead in her third-round clash with Ana Ivanovic on Friday evening.
She lost 6-7 (8/10), 6-4, 6-2 to maintain her poor record of never having gone beyond the fourth round at Melbourne Park in 12
attempts.
Despite the disappointment, the 2011 US Open champion said she took plenty of positives out of her performance.
“Obviously I've got to look at it in a little bit more time to see exactly what went wrong,” she said.
“At the moment now, it's disappointing, but I have to say that I'm proud of the way I was able to play out there.”
Stosur was a top 10 player almost continuously for three years until her run ended when she finished last year at 18 after a season blighted by injury.
Despite now being aged 29, she believes her best years lie ahead with her form again on track to deliver success this year.
“Absolutely,” she said, when asked the question.
“I think I'm more than capable of playing better and getting better and still improving, doing all that kind of stuff. I'm looking forward to it.
“Of course I'd like to get back to the top 10. But you don't get there without winning lots of matches and working hard. So you've got to put all those little things into place first.
“Probably this year I've got to try to do a bit better in these bigger tournaments, Grand Slams, where there's a lot more to gain. Hopefully I can peak at those right times this year.” - Sapa-AFP