AMERICAN DREAM
Kenin’s rise to Aussie glory
SOFIA KENIN’S father Alexander moved his family from Russia to America to give them a chance of a better life, studying by day and driving a taxi by night to make ends meet.
So when his daughter lifted the Australian Open trophy it was the fulfilment of a dream, a collective effort that began when she was discovered to have unusual ball skills for a three-year-old.
They ended up in Florida, following a well-travelled route that yesterday took her to a first Grand Slam title, defeating Garbine Muguruza 4-6, 6-2, 6-2 in just over two hours.
Given her story it is hardly surprising that Kenin, 21, exudes hunger.
There are shades of her, on court, of Monica Seles and Maria Sharapova, who have trod similar paths. She is the youngest winner here since Sharapova 12 years ago.
They could both say much the same thing as she did when finally reaching the winners’ podium (right).
‘My dream officially came true. If you have a dream, go for it, it’s going to come true,’ declared a beaming Kenin. ‘These past two weeks have been the best two weeks of my life.’
As someone who admits that she enjoys the bright lights and attention, she has already talked of wanting to buy an apartment in Manhattan. That should not be a problem, with the winner’s cheque here amounting to £2.2million.
Having never made a Slam quarter-final previously, Kenin now becomes America’s highest ranked woman at No 7, up from her previous ranking of 14. She has become the eighth new women’s Grand Slam winner in the past 12 majors and the question will be whether she will back it up or go the same way as many of her peers have done in recent years and find success difficult to sustain.
Her journey has been a complex one in pure tennis — let alone family — terms. Much was expected of her as a young teenager but it took her until last year to start training on as expected.
It began to click when she beat Serena Williams at the French Open. Another significant moment was in her run this fortnight when she came through a much-hyped encounter against teenage sensation Coco Gauff. Coincidentally or not, two of the last three women’s Slam winners have done this, the same thing happening with Simona Halep at Wimbledon.
Kenin is a ball of intensity who looks on the verge of a tantrum most of the time, but she admirably kept herself in check when the pressure was on.
‘I feel mental toughness was a big key for me here, I’m a tough cookie,’ she said. ‘This is a great moment for our family, I have been crying before every match but I tried not to let the emotions get the better of me. I was overlooked for some time.
‘Everything has happened so fast now, I’m on cloud nine at the moment. I’ve got my eye on a few things at the Cartier store.’
An indication of the continued flux in women’s tennis was this being the first major final in the post-1968 Open era that did not have a top-10 ranked player in it, Muguruza’s slump in form over the past 18 months meaning that she was not even seeded. That also partly explained why the Rod Laver Arena was not entirely sold out with some 500 seats remaining empty.
The Spaniard with the regal demeanour lost not just because of her opponent’s relentless, feisty persistence but the drop in quality of her serve from previous rounds. Looking like she was building momentum in a high-quality deciding set, she double-faulted for the seventh time to go 4-2 down and double-faulted again on a second match point to gift the American the title. Muguruza has more weapons to her game than Kenin, who is difficult to break down and served contrastingly well herself.
Her father and mentor was a picture of anguish in the support box and was lucky not to get a code violation for coaching when he was shown gesticulating that she should be using her backhand slice more early in the third set. But then he has evidently given a huge amount to get her to this point.
Behind most champions, especially in the women’s game, there is usually an immensely driven parent.