By Chris Oddo | @TheFanChild | Thursday February 6 2020
American Sofia Kenin proved she can win the big one last week in Melbourne, and she did it with her mentality as much as her tennis.
Photo Source: Mark Peterson/Corleve
Maybe we should have seen Sofia Kenin coming? The Top 15 ranking and the three titles in 2019, shouldn’t they have clued us in? And yet, as the 2020 Australian Open kicked off, 21-year-old Kenin was still very much an afterthought in tennis circles.
Not to worry—we know all about her now.
That’s not to say that we didn’t know Kenin before Australia; that would be misleading. Many had their eyes on the bubbly, shaken Sprite can of a baseliner, and most had come away impressed as the Russian-born and Florida-bred Kenin resolutely marched up the rankings behind eye-catching victories, like her takedown of Serena Williams at Roland Garros last May. Kenin brushed aside Williams in that third-round contest, owning the moment and ignoring the stage as she mystified a 23-time major champion who tried, but could not gain a toe-hold in a stunning upset at the hands of feisty American.
Still, when folks wrote their Roland Garros abstracts at the end of the fortnight, Williams’ loss to Kenin was viewed as more of an aberration. The onus was placed on Williams—what did a loss to an unseeded Kenin say about her?
Eight months later we can circle back, gather up the clues and notice what Kenin’s win over Williams said about KENIN.
For starters, she has a fair bit of je ne sais quoi…
Kenin drew the ire of the Parisian crowd in Court Philippe Chatrier on that day. Let's just say her first adventure on the world's biggest showcourt was just that--and adventure. That’s not news to anybody who knows French tennis fans or Kenin. What was news was how the American handled the charged atmosphere. It was simply water off a ducks’ back as she soaked up the boos and simultaneously waltzed past Williams in decisive fashion.
When Kenin smacked the net after an overrule went against her on set point in the first set, and later when she walked promenaded up to a ball mark to checked the veracity of another questionable call that went Williams’ way, the crowd was quick to jump on her case. They hooted and hollered, hoping to get a reaction but there was none to be had. Rather than put Kenin in her place, they were basically rendered nonexistent.
Note to pundits (and fans): Sofia Kenin is no shrinking violet.
Au contraire, the American is somothing drastically different, especially when it comes to her competitive nature. Not only the current World No.7 a hard-nosed pugilist who seemingly lives to trade blows on a tennis court, she’s also impervious to the type of white noise that can bring so many players—both inexperienced and battle-tested—down.
She plays her tennis with her own soundtrack turned up so loud, there's no room for anybody else in her eardrums.
We always knew about Kenin the competitor, Kenin the versatile shotmaker, Kenin the possessor of an immaculate drop shot. But we didn’t know that the 5’7” American’s game could translate into a Grand Slam title.
We don’t need to worry about that know either, because after her three-set coming out party in Rod Laver Arena last Saturday, Kenin is a major title winner and the top-ranked American, ahead of Team USA’s veritable murderer’s row of women’s talent which includes none other than Serena Williams, Sloane Stephens, Madison Keys, Venus Williams, Alison Riske, Amanda Anisimova and Coco Gauff.
“One of her best assets is she is a terrific competitor. Very intense. So concentrated,” Tracy Austin matter-of-factly said of Kenin during her match with Williams at Roland Garros in 2019.
That would be an understatement.
Everybody manages their emotions on court in their own way, and Kenin’s method of anger management is unique to say the least. The American paces quickly around the backcourt between points as if she consumed 12 cups of coffee during her pre-match meal. After winning games she evokes her inner Pete Rose, spiking tennis balls into the court as she prances to her chair.
At first glance she comes across as volatile, maybe even a little negative. But keep watching, Kenin has the ability to teeter on the edge and allow her anger to flow through her; it's gone in an instant in effect cancelling the issues that it can cause.
Without fail, Kenin backs herself ahead of every point, no matter what happened in the last. This is the mandate that so many top players commit to live by, and fail miserably when push comes to shove. But Kenin is a different story and this characteristic might be her most special attribute. We noted the way, last season, that she shook off a bad miss against Serena on her first match point at Roland Garros. An anguished grimace surfaced in a fractured moment where the terror made its way to the surface of her face, and then she washed it away. Three seconds late Kenin was pacing the baseline, pumping her fists as if she’d won the last ten points.
It’s very raw, her demeanor. One could believe she’s self-taught, like she tried to listen to her sports psychologist but ended up firing him and doing it her way.
It was this same special quality that allowed Kenin to masterfully survive being triple break point down against Garbiñe Muguruza in Saturday’s Australian Open final. There edgy Kenin using the anger to spark her. She fired herself up, using the precious seconds between point to fire herself up, to dare herself to pull out her most courageous tennis. Lo and behold she did it, unleashing a barrage of winners to win five straight points in a game that will forever be remembered as the moment that Kenin went from maybe to definitely.
It may be volatility that we see in Kenin’s body language in those moments, but it is consistency that she produces.
Is it sustainable over the long haul, or will Kenin struggle to keep it together as the freshness of being a breakout star subsides?
Time will answer that question but for now it seems like Kenin has a mindset that is built for consistency over time. We don’t see Kenin waver emotionally from point to point in a match—her focus is absolute, her intensity is full-throttle—and we don’t see her waver from tournament to tournament either. The same spirit that Kenin summoned to rally from triple break point down against Muguruza at 2-2 of their Australian Open final is with the American as she toils in the relative obscurity of other WTA Tour stops.
One senses that Kenin will play with the proverbial chip on her shoulder for the rest of her career. Yes, she’s one a Slam but she’ll be aiming to prove those who think she can’t win another from this point forward.
That’s why it seems a no-brainer to pencil her into the Top 10 for many years to come. This is a kid that wants to prove she belongs and will stop at nothing to do it.