Sam Groth

Samuel Groth OLY, MP (born 19 October 1987) is an Australian politician and a former professional tennis player.

Sitting as a member of the Victorian Legislative Assembly, Groth represents the Liberal Party in the seat of Nepean.

He is also the Shadow Minister for Youth and Shadow Minister for Tourism, Sport and Events since December 2022.

Groth and Andrew Kennaugh of Great Britain lost in the finals of the 2005 Wimbledon boys' doubles championship to Jesse Levine and Michael Shabaz 6–4, 6–1.

Groth beat Mark Philippoussis in a 2007 match; Philippoussis subsequently focused on the seniors tour.

Groth qualified for the ATP event in Nottingham where he defeated Britain's Jamie Baker 7–6, 6–3 in the first round.

He lost his second round match to seeded Gilles Simon 7–6(7–1), 4–6, 4–6.

At the 2009 Australian Open he set a record for the fastest serve by a male player (232 km/h).

He lost in the qualification to Wimbledon 2009 to Jesse Levine 4–6, 7–6, 5–7.

He hit the fastest serve on record at 263 km/h (163.4 mph) in 2012 at the ATP Challenger in Busan.

Prior to his political career, he worked for the Nine Network's tennis broadcasts and as a host on Postcards.

In 2012, in an ATP Challenger in Busan, Groth hit the fastest serve on record with a 163.4 mph ace, but lost the match to Uładzimir Ihnatsik, 4–6, 3–6.

In November 2013, he reached the final of the Champaign Challenger, eventually losing in 3 sets to Tennys Sandgren 6–3, 3–6, 6–7.

However, by reaching the final there, and the semi-final of Toyota Challenger the following week, his ranking improved to a career high of #173.

Groth's best singles result was a semi-final appearance at the 2014 Hall of Fame Tennis Championships.

In 2014, Groth was awarded a wild card into the main draw at the Brisbane International, where he made the quarter-finals.

This is his first ATP World Tour quarter final appearance.

On 8 January, Groth was awarded a wild card into the 2014 Australian Open, but lost in round one to 28th seed, Vasek Pospisil in straight sets.

In March, Groth qualified for Indian Wells Masters, but lost in round 1 to Mikhail Kukushkin, 4–7 in the third set tie-break.

On 17 March, Groth entered and won the Rimouski Challenger in Canada.

This was his first Challenger tour title.

Two weeks later, he made the final of the León Challenger, but lost to #1 seed, Rajeev Ram.

This gave him a new career high ranking of 136.

At the 2014 French Open, Groth made it to the last round of qualifying, but lost to Simone Bolelli 4–6, 2–6.

This was his best French Open result to date.

He partnered Andrey Golubev in the Men's doubles, where they made it to the semi-final.

This increased his doubles ranking to a career high of #41.

In June, Groth made the final of the 2014 Aegon Nottingham Challenge but lost to compatriot Nick Kyrgios 6–7(3–7), 6–7(7–9).

Groth made his Wimbledon debut after winning his way through qualifying, but lost in round 1 to Alexandr Dolgopolov in three sets.

In July.

Groth entered the Hall of Fame Tennis Championships, where he reached his maiden ATP semi-final, defeating defending champion Nicolas Mahut in the quarter-finals.

This achievement saw him break into the top 100 rankings for the first time.

In August, Groth won his first Grand Slam match, defeating Albert Ramos Viñolas 6–3, 7–6(7–5), 6–3 in the 2014 US Open.

In the second round, he was defeated by Roger Federer in straight sets 4–6, 4–6, 4–6.

His highest ATP singles ranking was World No. 53, which he reached in August 2015.

His career high in doubles was World No. 24, reached in February 2015.

Groth started the 2015 season at the 2015 Brisbane International, where he was awarded a wild card into the main draw.

He defeated defending champion Lleyton Hewitt in round one, and then Łukasz Kubot in the second round before losing to eventual finalist Milos Raonic in the quarter-finals 6–7(5–7), 6–3, 6–7(2–7).

At the Australian Open, Groth defeated Filip Krajinović in round one, Thanasi Kokkinakis in round two before losing to Bernard Tomic in round 3.

This was his best grand slam performance to date.