Whilst wandering in between courts at the massive Melbourne Park precinct early this week it quickly became apparent that Sam Stosur was the butt of all jokes. She had just gone down in three sets to Brit Heather Watson.

Even one of the Melbourne Park public announcers was having a dig.

“I hope everyone’s having a better time out there than Sam Stosur just did.”

The headlines were far more brutal. “Bombs Out” “Dismal” “Disappointment” “Failure” “Loser” “Sam Sent Packing” are only a snapshot of Stosur’s post match headlines.

One more day of tennis. Sam Stosur may want to skip the local papers today. pic.twitter.com/z1R0HMHCiA — P.J. Wascher (@PEAJAEwascher) January 17, 2017

But before we go pointing the finger saying it’s all the media’s fault, some of the general public’s reaction has been equally savage.

Did anyone load up on Heather Watson to beat Sam Stosur? I regret missing this. Sam has lost the plot. She’d almost lose to your grandma — dan (@Fisherking79) January 18, 2017

@abcgrandstand its time for Sam Stosur to retire. Noone likes an under performer in business or sport.If she did a team sport she’d be fired — Peter ????? (@Ironman_peter) January 17, 2017

Sam Stosur has to go down as being Australia’s biggest underachiever in sporting history. Every grand slam she loses 1st or 2nd round ? — David Stidston (@stido1977) January 17, 2017

The above comment perfectly epitomises where we might have it very wrong.

Sam Stosur’s win over Serena Williams is the best thing to happen in her career but in many ways it has also been the worst.

Since her first Grand Slam win the expectations placed onto Stosur’s shoulders have been huge. She beat Serena on her own turf so naturally an Australian Open title was a formality. Unfortunately that’s not how it works.

Looking at the Australian Open in isolation Stosur has never made it past the fourth round (which she reached in 2006 and 2010). So realistically who in their right mind would expect her to do better this year at the age of 32?

Some could argue…” Well Serena Williams is 35 and still winning majors so why can’t Sam?” Well the reality is they are totally different players. Whilst Sam has plenty of power she doesn’t have anywhere near the weaponry that Serena possesses.

Serena has blistering ground strokes and the biggest serve in the game, faster than a lot of the blokes on the tour. If Serena is in trouble and in need of an easy point she can always call upon her big serve. This is a luxury Stosur does not have.

Rather than calling Stosur an underachiever I would argue Stosur is quite the opposite. Whilst ‘overachiever’ is unkind, Stosur’s 2011 US Open win saw her get the absolute best out of herself and her game. Her US Open title saw her become the first Aussie woman to win a major since Evonne Goolagong Cawley took out Wimbledon in 1980.

She has won a US Open, something that 99.99% of us will never achieve. She is humble and continues to be a great ambassador for Australian tennis, something Australian tennis lacks big time.

Did an autograph signing after my match today. Thanks to everyone who support me, was a lot of fun out there! A photo posted by Samantha Stosur (@samstosur) on Jan 12, 2015 at 3:52am PST

Instead of getting on her back with ridiculous expectations of a second Grand Slam title we should get behind her and let her enjoy the twilight years of her career.

by Michael T. Lynch – contributor