Former Aussie star's relationship with wife suddenly questioned
Groth is now deputy leader of the Victorian Liberal party and the questions are centreing on how their relationship started way back in 2011 when Groth was coaching at Templestowe Park tennis club.
Brittany was also at the club and she would have been 16 or 17 at the time.
Groth is about seven years older.
The Victorian law says: 'If you are between 16 and 17 years old, even if you agree, a person who is caring for you or supervising you (like a teacher, youth worker or foster carer) can't have sex with you, touch you sexually or get you to touch them sexually, perform a sexual act in front of you.'
It has been reported that some of Groth's colleagues leaked their concerns to the media after Groth, 37, was made deputy leader in December. Questions have surfaced about the start of Sam Groth's relationship with now wife, Brittany. Credit: Getty Images
The fear is now that the relationship, in its infancy, breached the law, and it could be used against Groth and his party during an election.
Labor insiders are already calling it 'inappropriate'.
Labor Health Minister Mary-Anne Thomas said on Tuesday: 'If you're asking me whether I think it's appropriate for a person that is in a position of influence or authority, like a teacher or coach, to be dating a teenager, then the answer to that is no.
'It's evidence that the Liberals remain at war with one another, and quite clearly, if you can't govern yourselves, then you can't govern the state'.
Another senior Labor MP told News Corp: 'What he has done is really not appropriate.'
Groth left his first wife Jarmila Wolfe (also a tennis player) in 2011. His relationship with Brittany followed not long after.
The couple have previously discussed how their relationship started, with Brittany admitting they 'ended up hitting with each other and connecting from there'.
She said Groth 'added me on Facebook immediately ... I think that I knew I wanted to be with him but he was in such a different space to what my friends and girlfriends were in.'
In 2017 Groth spoke to tennischannel.com about the start of their relationship.
'We met during my year off. So I had that year off in 2011 where I sort of stepped away from tennis,' Groth said.
'We are actually from the same suburb in Melbourne, and I was coaching at a club and Brit was playing a little bit there ... yeah, we sort of met through that time.'
Brittany called it 'fate'.
'There was only a few small weeks where we could have possibly met each other. It was a small local club, I mean not many people play there,' she said.
Opposition leader Brad Battin has defended Groth and called the questions over his relationship a dirty attack.
'Any attempt to besmirch the relationship of Sam, Britt and their children is a disgrace,' Battin said.
'Politics is a dirty business, but this attack has hit a new low in public life.'
It's not the first time Groth has hit the headlines this year over allegations of impropriety.
In May this year he was accused of getting drunk at the Australian Open and then using a colleague's chauffeur-driven vehicle to take him and his wife home.
Groth had hosted a political fundraiser with Nationals MP Jade Benham and then entered a party zone at the tennis where it was claimed he got 'smashed'.
Then-opposition upper house leader Georgie Crozier lent him her car for the trip home and later said Victorians 'deserve a lot better'.
'I'm incredibly disappointed,' Crozier told media in May.
'I think that Sam needs to explain his actions. I can't.'
Groth was shadow minister for tourism, sport and events at the time, and the car was used for a trip from Melbourne Park to Rye on the Mornington Peninsula, a distance of about 100km.
Groth later said he had nothing to hide and attended the 2024 Australian Open in both an official capacity and personal capacity.
'I was at the event to meet various stakeholders and attend meetings before being part of a fundraising initiative,' he said.
'The accusations around intoxication are wrong.
'Everything was and is above board.'
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