I proved doubters wrong, says Kenin
Sofia Kenin performed the traditional morning-after photo shoot by the banks of the Yarra, proudly carrying the Daphne Akhurst Memorial Cup and wearing a dramatic cocktail dress that had to be carefully disentangled from her car by tournament officials.
The extravagant get-up only emphasised how young Kenin looks. At 21, she is closer to the generation of Naomi Osaka (22) and Ashleigh Barty (23) than that of Coco Gauff (15). But her sudden emergence, and her wide-eyed gaucheness, make her feel like the child prodigy she once was.
When Kenin beat the former Wimbledon champion Garbine Muguruza 4-6, 6-2, 6-2 in a compelling Australian Open final on Saturday night, social media lit up with videos showing her 2005 appearance on the Tennis Channel. Tiny, but already full of sass, the sevenyear-old Kenin told her interviewer that she would have no problem returning Andy Roddick’s famously quick serve.
And yet, despite her fast start in the game, Kenin dropped out of view for most of the past decade. She only reappeared in earnest when she beat Serena Williams at the French Open in May.
Some of this came down to a lack of support. When working out which prospects to back, the United
States Tennis Association proved more interested in contemporaries with heavier firepower. Kenin’s key asset is her awesome precision, which she harnessed to strike five straight winners from 0-40 down in the key game of Saturday’s final.
“I just feel like some people didn’t really believe in me,” Kenin said after her win. “They turned me down, and said some things like I wouldn’t make it, or that I was too small.” She stands 5ft 7in, which is well under the tour average.
“We never took that seriously. I had a goal, I had a dream and we achieved it. I feel we did it for ourselves, not to prove people wrong, although it does that at the same time, which is good. We put in all the hard work. No matter what people said, we always believed.”
With her father and coach Alexander – who emigrated to the US from Russia when Kenin was a few months old – at her side, Kenin has the fierceness and focus of a young Maria Sharapova. According to the ESPN commentator Chris Evert, she can now become a regular presence at the back end of slams.
“Sofia has been undervalued and overshadowed by a lot of the American power players,” said Evert. “But now America knows her and what she has.
“They know she is a champion. She is not a flash in the pan. This young lady is going to be around for a long, long time because she has that hunger and that grit.”