Australian tennis legend Sam Stosur has welcomed a baby girl!
The former world No. 1 shared the news on Instagram on Wednesday night with a cute snap of the new arrival.
“And beautiful chaos reigns once again,” she said in the caption. “Welcome Emmeline Grace. Evie is beyond happy to have a little sister and we are over the moon.”
This is the second child for the 41-year-old and her partner, Liz Astling. Liz gave birth to their first daughter in Genevieve, who they call Evie, in 2020.
Here’s everything we know about Sam Stosur’s family life.
HOW DID SAM STOSUR AND LIZ ASTLING MEET?
The couple first met in 2015 when Liz was working as a physical therapist at the Billie Jean King Cup, where Sam was competing.
Sam made her relationship with Liz public in 2019 after the Tennis Australia Newcombe Medal presentation.
While accepting the Spirit of Tennis award, Sam wanted to come out and thank Liz, but she lost her nerve while on stage.
“Once I stepped off stage I was like, ‘What are you doing?” she later said on the Ordineroli Speaking podcast. “‘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?’”
Later that night, she thanked Liz in an Instagram post.
“To my Mum, Dad, Daniel and Dom and my partner Liz, you have given me the love, support and every opportunity to pursue my dream and I’ll be forever grateful,” it read.
The next day, she woke up to a flood of supportive messages.
“It felt so good just to open up that little bit more and have that truth of my relationship with her out there and just to finally say thank you to her,” she told the podcast. “It just got to the point where I was sick of not being able to acknowledge her, first and foremost. I wanted to be able to say thanks.”
“You don’t realise [the weight of it] until you get it off your shoulders,” she continued. “That little bit of cautiousness around what you do… becomes tiring and becomes, ‘Why did I ever need to do that or why did I feel like I needed to do that?’ It could have been a whole lot simpler.
“You’ve just got to be completely honest with yourself. If that’s who you are and that’s who you want to be, in anything in life, that’s all that matters. Just enjoy it and embrace all of it.”
THE ARRIVAL OF EVIE IN 2020
A year after coming out, Liz gave birth to the couple’s first child.
“Life in lockdown during coronavirus has been challenging in many ways,” Sam wrote on Instagram at the time. “But personally it’s been one of the most exciting and happy times of my life.”
“Mum and Evie are doing well and it’s so amazing to be home with them both,” she continued. “We are absolutely in love with this little bundle and rolling with the happy chaos.”
“We can’t wait for what’s to come and to watch little Evie grow up… Although not too quickly we hope.”
After Evie was born, Sam decided to take the rest of 2020 off to focus on her family.
“Now you’ve got to think about your family, not just yourself with these decisions, and I think this is the best way for me to spend the next six months is to be at home and be with her,” she admitted to the Herald Sun.
“Even the tougher times don’t seem that bad when you just look at her little face and you just want to cuddle her and hold her all day long. It’s absolutely incredible,” she admitted of the newborn phase.
SAM STOSUR’S PREGNANCY
In April this year, Sam announced on Instagram that she was pregnant with the couple’s second child.
“Time to dust off the baby gear,” she wrote over footage of her putting a pram together. “We’re so excited for the new addition to our family.”
“It’s my turn this time,” she added.
When Sam announced the arrival of Emmeline this week her comments were flooded with messages of congratulations.
“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,” wrote Aussie tennis great Rennae Stubbs, while retired Russian tennis player Elena Vesnina added: “She is precious. Congratulations Sam!!!”
“So beautiful!!!! Can’t wait to meet her,” commented Australian player Maddison Inglis.
“Congrats Sam Liz and Evie,” added fellow Aussie Alicia Molik.
