Sam Stosur has announced the birth of her second child with partner Liz, sparking a flood of congratulatory messages for the Aussie tennis champion. Stosur took to Instagram on Wednesday night to announce the arrival of a baby girl called Emmeline Grace.
“And beautiful chaos reigns once again,” Stosur wrote alongside a photo of the new bub. “Evie is beyond happy to have a little sister and we are over the moon. We love you so much little Emmy.”
Sam Stosur and Liz Astling have welcomed their second child. Image: Getty
Aussie tennis great Rennae Stubbs led the well-wishes, writing: “Just another gorgeous baby girl for me to love endlessly! Emmy your Auntie Nae Nae can’t wait to meet you!! Sam and Liz, I’m so happy for you both and Evie, you’re going to be the best big sis ever! Love you all.”
Retired Russian tennis player Elena Vesnina wrote: “She is precious. Congratulations Sam!!!” While Aussie player Maddison Inglis commented: “So beautiful!!!! Can’t wait to meet her.” Fellow Aussie great Alicia Molik added: “Congrats Sam Liz and Evie.”
Stosur and Astling had their first daughter Evie five years ago. On that occasion it was Astling who carried Evie, but this time around it was Stosur who gave birth to Emmy.
Stosur is a legend of Australian tennis, famously winning the US Open singles title in 2011 when she beat Serena Williams on her home court. She reached World No.4 in singles that same year, and was World No.1 in doubles in 2006.
She also won six grand slam titles in doubles – four in women’s and two in mixed – including the Australian Open mixed title in 2005 and women’s title in 2019. The 41-year-old is now the captain of Australia’s Billie Jean King Cup team, helping mentor some of the country’s best young talent.
Sam Stosur gave birth to Emmy, after her partner carried their first child. (Photo by Chris Hyde/Getty Images)
Sam Stosur’s brave move after keeping relationship secret
Stosur has been in a relationship with Astling since 2016, but she admitted she was initially too scared to go public because of what the reaction would be like. After she won the ‘Spirit of Tennis’ award at the Newcombe Medal ceremony in 2019, she realised she wanted to show her partner the proper recognition she deserved, but hadn’t done so in her acceptance speech.
“I was in the car park at the end of the night and something just didn’t feel right because I’d thanked all these people who were obviously very, very important to me, but not my partner,” she said at the time. “And she is a huge part of what I’ve been able to do. And who I am now.
“And that just didn’t sit well with me. And I thought, ‘Do you know what? Bugger this, I just want to thank her and I want to do this’. So that’s why I put it on Instagram. As you get older and you’re more mature and you reflect more on things and I thought, you know what, this is who I am.”
Liz Astling and Sam Stosur at the Newcombe Medal ceremony in 2024. (Photo by Graham Denholm/Getty Images for Tennis Australia)
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Stosur ended up revealing her sexuality in a social media post at 3am. “Once I stepped off stage I was like, ‘What are you doing? You’ve just accepted this award, thanked all these people and the person who is really with you every single day, the person you have the most candid and open discussions with who you want to spend the rest of your life with, you can’t mention them on stage?,” she added.
“I was like, ‘Nah, that’s ridiculous, I don’t want to do that anymore’. We were walking back to the car to come home and I said, ‘I want to do this’ and I think I hit send at 3am or something.”