Sam Stosur’s guide to finding the right hitting partner

A major aspect of the life of a professional tennis player is making time to hit the practice court.

But who to hit with?

Sam Stosur, in her 18th year as a pro, has spent plenty of time hitting with plenty of different people. So what works best for her?

“It just depends really who’s around and where you are,” she said.

“I hit with Dave a lot when he’s around. But in the pre-season (in Melbourne) I hit with Jarryd, I hit with some of the other boys, I hit with Dasha a lot.”

Dave is David Taylor, Stosur’s long-time coach. Jarryd is Jarryd Maher, a 26-year-old Victorian who has for years toiled on the ITF circuit, peaking at world No.684. Dasha is Daria Gavrilova, ranked 33rd on the WTA tour and who shares the same manager – Paul Kilderry – as Stosur.

The world’s top women often have male hitting partners whose superior strength and power make them have to work harder, therefore enhancing the quality and intensity of a practice session.

But according to Stosur, they’re not always the best option to hit with.

“To play girls for practice sets and stuff it’s obviously more relevant because of the serve (that she faces regularly on the women’s tour) and all that,” Stosur said. “If you hit with the real younger guys (young juniors) it’s a little more realistic as far as their serve goes.

“But then you can play any guy really and just know that their serve’s gonna be harder and faster than most girls than you play.

“It’s actually sometimes good to play the guys in points too because of the way they move; they’re so fast. It’s just different; they’re faster and stronger because they’re a guy, not a girl.

“Sometimes you might have been able to hit a winner (in points against a female) but all of a sudden you have to hit two or three winners in that one point to actually win it because they can get to it. So it’s a really good test to put yourself under more pressure and have to repeat good quality over and over again.”

Stosur revealed that several years ago she hit regularly in Sydney with James Duckworth, who was a junior at the time but who has since gone on crack the ATP top 100.

“He was quite little compared to what he is now,” she laughed.

“There’s been lots of guys (over the years) … I’ve been hitting (more recently) with Benard Nkomba and Kody Pearson up in Sydney (at the National Academy). That was good – they’re really fast and hit the ball really well, so that’s always good training for me.”