Defending Australian Open champion Sofia Kenin continued her Grand Slam superstition tradition: Sneaking a peak at potential first-week opponents.

While many players insist they never look past their opening-round opponent, Kenin prefers pondering her potential first four rounds.

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"I do this at Grand Slams. I'm very superstitious, Kenin said. "I do this in Grand Slams. Yeah, last year I looked at the draw till the fourth round. Paris I looked at the fourth round. US Open. Why change the rhythm?

The fourth-seeded American opens against Aussie wild card Maddison Inglis with a possible tricky second-rounder vs. either veteran Anastasija Sevastova or Kaia Kanepi in round two.

The Roland Garros runner-up expects her first attempted defense of a Grand Slam title to be an arduous test.



"Obviously I would love to defend it. But, yeah, just preparing physically and mentally, knowing that I got to be physically there in my game, my movement, everything," Kenin said. "Mentally I got to handle my emotions and understand whoever I'm going to play, they're obviously going to play with no pressure, which is expected.

"They're probably going to play better against me, so I have to somehow try to handle my nerves and try to stick to my game plan, yeah, hope that I win."

Photo credit: Mark Peterson/Corleve