Sofia Kenin is a promising young player who turned pro on September 5, 2017, and won her first Grand Slam title at the 2020 Australian Open.
The 23-year-old Sofia Kenin achieved a career-high WTA ranking of No. 4 in the world on March 9, 2020. She was the 2020 WTA Player of the Year. Kenin deserved the title as she not only won the Australian Open in 2020 but also came runner-up at the French Open.
The Russian-born American tennis pro has won five WTA singles titles and two WTA doubles titles as of now. In 2021, things began to go downhill for her. Her Australian Open title defense was a disaster as he lost in the second round to an unseeded Kaia Kanepi. Her loss in the second round was the earliest for a defending champion at the Australian Open since Jennifer Capriati lost in the first round in 2003.
She had to withdraw from several tournaments owing to appendicitis. In Miami Open, Kenin did make her return but could not progress beyond the second round.
Kenin suffered an injury that prevented her from taking part in the warmup events before Wimbledon 2021. At the grass-court major, Kenin lost in the second round to Madison Brengle and created an unwanted record of committing 41 unforced errors in just 45 minutes.
Injuries kept creeping in even in 2022 after a first-round exit at the Australian Open. She missed major tournaments in March, April, and May including the French Open. This meant that her ranking dropped outside the top 300. She was recently ousted in the round of 64 of the Canadian Open after losing to Sloane Stephens.
Sofia Kenin’s no-look serve
A unique weapon in Sofia Kenin’s arsenal is the no-look serve. She tosses the ball up in the air while simultaneously looking at her feet before hitting the ball.
She looks up just before the point of contact between the ball and her racquet. During an interview, Kenin spoke about how she has had this unorthodox serve her whole career and how rewarding it has been for her.
“I’ve had that my whole career. I know it’s a little bit different. I’ve had great success with it. I think it would be quite wrong to start changing things now,” said Kenin.
More Tennis news
- “Not too focused on that” – Sofia Kenin wants to concentrate on her tennis and not coaching rule change
- “Hopefully, it’s going to help me here” – Australian Open champion Sofia Kenin believes her busy schedule will be a boon at the Dubai Tennis Championships
- “The kid’s got a better serve and slice than a handful of Top 100 WTA players” – Twitter reacts as Sofia Kenin loses point to a ball kid
Follow our dedicated Tennis page for instant Tennis news and updates
