Australian tennis ace Casey Dellacqua is drawing on the positives after suffering yet more doubles despair at the US Open in New York.
Dellacqua’s 6-3 6-3 loss with Kazakh Yaroslava Shvedova to world No.1s Martina Hingis and Sania Mirza was the West Australian’s sixth defeat from as many finals in grand slam doubles.
But the 30-year-old’s first million-dollar season and qualification for the elite eight-team season-ending championships has more than compensated for Dellacqua’s latest disappointment.
“I’m okay, honestly,” Dellacqua said.
“The fact that I can say I’m a six-time grand slam finalist is good for me.
“Obviously I’d love to win them but if I finish my career (like that), I’m okay with that.
“Hopefully one day I’m remembered for being a good competitor, a good player. That’s what’s important to me.
“It’s about going out there, doing what we do well, and someone’s got to win, someone’s got to lose.
“The fact I’ve made six finals, I’m really proud of that achievement as well.”
Stosur’s singles ranking is set to drop from 60th to 76th in the world after her failure to defend her fabulous run to the final 16 at Flushing Meadows last year.
But with no plans to ditch her singles plans, Dellacqua and Shvedova have much to look forward to for the remainder of 2015.
After only teaming up in May, the pair have made two grand slam finals in Paris and New York, won a title on clay in Madrid and reached the quarter-finals on grass at Wimbledon.
Dellacqua’s all-court success has already earned her $US840,299 ($A1.19 million) this season, guaranteeing the shot-making southpaw her biggest yearly earnings yet.
But she’s not done yet and her and Shvedova have a shot of winning the season-ending championship.
“We’ve only played since May as well so even since then I think we’ve come a long way,” Dellacqua said.
“The fact we’ve made Singapore after a handful of tournaments is a pretty good achievement, something to be proud of for us.
“I look forward to the Asian trip and obviously finishing the year in Singapore will be awesome.”
