“I definitely believe that I can get there again.”
Since Sofia Kenin won the Australian Open as a 21-year-old in 2020 it has not always looked certain that she would return to the biggest stages in tennis.
There have been injuries, a split with her father and coach Alexander, testing positive for Covid-19, a fall to No. 426 in the world rankings. As Kenin struggled to back up her incredible breakthrough 2020 season that also saw her make the French Open final and reach No. 4 in the world, it looked as though another major win was a distant dream.
But things have started looking up again - and Kenin is "believing" again.
At Wimbledon, Kenin came through qualifying – not a route often taken by a 24-year-old former Grand Slam champion – and then beat seventh seed Coco Gauff and Xinyu Wang to make the third round, where she lost to eventual semi-finalist Elina Svitolina.
The win over Gauff was particularly impressive as Kenin showcased the kind of tennis that propelled her to the top of the game in 2020.
“This means a lot,” said Kenin after beating fellow American Gauff.
“I feel like this year has been not necessarily lows, but I feel like it's a comeback year for me. I feel like I started off the year well, I was playing well. I had a good feeling that this year would be a good year for me.”
The question now is whether Wimbledon was just the start of the comeback for Kenin.
She will next play the Citi Open in Washington DC after getting a wild card, and then could then potentially feature at the Canadian Open and Cincinnati Open, before the US Open, which starts on August 28.
Kenin spoke at Wimbledon about being “eager and hungry to get back” to the top level, and how she feels things are moving in the right direction.
“I just feel like I had to click,” she said after making the third round at Wimbledon.
“Like I said, I started off the year pretty good. Then I feel like I needed more matches. And I knew if I put in the work and do the right things, eventually it's going to click, and I'm super happy it's clicking here. So yeah, it's just one thing at a time and everything.”
Asked if there was a moment this season where it felt like things were getting back into place, Kenin highlighted her first-round loss to Elena Rybakina at Indian Wells in March.
Rybakina was coming off reaching the final at the Australian Open and would go on to win Indian Wells. The match was tight as Rybakina came through two tie-breakers, winning 7-6(6) 7-6(5).
“Of course a little bit heartbreaking because I lost, but she got to the finals of Australian Open, so I wanted to just see where I am at that point, and I did a great job,” reflected Kenin.
“I just got some confidence off that match… I believed I always could do it, but I felt like that was a little bit of a turning point for me.”
Two months after the defeat to Rybakina, there was an impressive straight-sets win over world No. 2 Aryna Sabalenka in Rome, which was Kenin’s first top-10 win in three years. That was just the third time this season that Kenin, who has had her father Alex back in her team since November 2021, recorded back-to-back wins. Wimbledon, where she said she was “trying to prove some people wrong”, was the fourth.
Further consistency is the key for Kenin over the North American hard-court summer.
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Sofia Kenin with coach and father Alex
Image credit: Getty Images
She has had success in the past at this stage of the season. In 2019, she made the semi-finals of both the Canadian Open and Cincinnati Open before making the fourth round of the US Open. In that same year, she recorded the most hard-court wins on the WTA Tour (38) and four of her five career titles have been on the surface.
However, since 2019 she has only won one match across four combined appearances at the Canadian Open, Cincinnati Open and US Open.
A good start to the summer could be important. Kenin has not played since her third-round run at Wimbledon, but will be hoping to build momentum and tally up some more wins at the Citi Open.
It’s still a long way back to the top, but Kenin appears to be on the rise.
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July 31, 2023 at 09:40PM
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Sofia Kenin: After Wimbledon run, will comeback continue to gather pace at Citi Open ahead of US Open? - Eurosport COM
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