Sofia surges to title
Born in Russia, raised in USA, Kenin wins in Australia
Melbourne, Feb. 1:
America’s Sofia Kenin stunned two-time Major champion Garbine Muguruza to win the Australian Open on Saturday, completing a surprise run where she has come from nowhere to win her first Grand Slam title.
Despite making her debut in a Major final Kenin, 21, showed all her trademark aggression as she fought back from a set down to win 4-6, 6-2, 6-2 in 2hrs 3mins against the shellshocked Spaniard.
The 14th seed, who will now jump as high as seventh in the world, was in tears at the end and headed straight for her father Alexander, who is her coach.
It was the final twist in a tournament of upsets, after Williams went out in the third round and Kenin upset Australia’s world number one Ashleigh Barty in the semifinals.
“My dream officially came true, I can’t describe this feeling. It’s amazing, dreams come true. If you have dreams, go for it, it’s going to come true,” said Moscow-born Kenin.
She was resurgent in Melbourne over the past fortnight, but after grabbing the first-set lead, her serve failed her spectacularly. She totted up eight double-faults in all, three of them in the final game — including one on the second championship point, handing the title to her younger opponent.
“The past two weeks have been the best of my life,” she told Rod Laver Arena, as her father — who left the Soviet Union in 1987 to give the family a better life — filmed her victory speech on his phone.
At 21 years and 80 days, Kenin is 22 days younger than Japan’s Naomi Osaka when she won the title last year. Kenin is the youngest Australian Open champion since Maria Sharapova — her idol — won was 20 in 2008.
KENIN’S FATHER
RECALLS HARDSHIP
Before the final, Kenin’s father Alexander, who is also her coach, retold the family story.
He and wife Lena left the Soviet Union in 1987, initially for New York, returning to Russia for Sofia’s birth in 1998 so a grandmother could help with the newborn.
The family would later settle in Florida and Kenin says her parents sacrificed themselves “so I could have the American dream”.
Alexander said: “I wanted a better future for my kids and it (then Soviet Union) was a completely different country (to what it is today). Nothing was allowed and we tried to get out for eight years. They controlled everything, we didn't see the world, you were just stuck.”
Leaving friends and family behind and heading into the unknown of the United States was a wrench, said Alexander, and life was tough eking out a living in New York.
Alexander was a taxi driver by night and went to English and computer school by day.
“I don’t think she experienced all the sacrifices we had to go through, but she knows about them,” he said.
“It was very, very tough. I had to work at night, go to school in the morning. Driving in New York, speaking English on the (taxi) radio. I had no idea what they were saying. But it’s amazing the things you do to survive. She knows about that and I think it made her tough,” he added.
Unlike Kenin’s hero Maria Sharapova, who made a similar journey with her family to the United States but represented Russia, Alexander says there was never a debate about where her loyalties lay.
“She has very little connection with Russia, except the fact she was born there. She’s the best person in the world, that’s it,” he said.
“King” Novak Djokovic has won all seven Australian Open finals he has contested, he is on a 12-match winning streak and will become world number one if successful in the Melbourne Park decider on Sunday.
Against those overwhelming odds, few are giving Dominic Thiem much of a chance to wrench the title from his iron grip and clinch a maiden Grand Slam.
But the Austrian, remarkably, is the one with the recent edge.
Djokovic is 6-4 in their career head-to-heads.
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