'Woah': Tennis world stunned by Sam Stosur retirement backflip

The tennis world has been left stunned and confused after Aussie grand slam winner Sam Stosur has appeared to come out of retirement to play a singles match in Strasbourg.

Stosur, who won the US Open in 2010, announced after this year's Australian Open she had effectively retired from singles competition.

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“If Roland Garros (venue for the French Open) calls me and says, ‘you wanna play?’, sure!" she said at the time.

“But, no, my time for singles is finished.

“This wasn’t a comeback to singles, it was just a good opportunity.”

However, tennis reporter Ben Rothenberg noticed some hysteria around Stosur participating in a match in Strasboug, France.

The organisers of the event, which she won twice in 2015 and 2017, had been looking around for someone to fill in for late drop-outs in the 32-strong draw and thought it would be fitting to ask Stosur, who’s graced the tournament on many occasions.

Already set to play in the doubles with Taiwan’s Latisha Chan, she was honoured to take up the offer.

“It was good, it was fun, considering I didn’t know I was competing here until a couple of days ago,” said Stosur.

“For sure, I was a bit nervous. I guess I haven’t done many things when I wasn’t fully prepared.

“So going into here was a difficult scenario, but mostly I was just excited to get another chance of playing singles in a place where I’ve had a lot of success and enjoy myself.

“Overall, I actually hit the ball really well – I hit some balls as if it were five years ago when the ball was going exactly where I wanted it to! But on other points, she was making me move side to side and it was hard!”

Stosur lost to local Harmony Tan 6-2, 6-1 in an unexpected return to the game.

Tennis world loses it over Sam Stosur return

Many tennis fans, including Rothenberg, were left stunned to see the 38-year-old participating in singles once again.

The 37-year-old was one of the most consistent players on tour for years, holding a place in the top 10 between 2010 and 2013 - an impressive stretch by any measure.

She made it to one other grand slam final, at Roland Garros in 2010, and was a semi-finalist on three other occasions.

Announcing the move on Instagram, Stosur said she would compete in doubles for the rest of 2022 before moving on to new challenges.

Reaching a career-high of world No.4 in 2011, the same year she defeated Serena Williams to win the US Open, Stosur will undoubtedly go down as one of the greats of Australian tennis.

At the end of 2021, Samantha Stosur and her partner Liz Astling announced the birth of a baby girl.