Sofia Anna "Sonya" Kenin ( SOH-nee-? KEN-in; born November 14, 1998 in Moscow) is an American tennis player. She made her debut in the Top 100 of the Women's Tennis Association (WTA) rankings in 2018 as a teenager. As a junior, she won the USTA Girls' 18s national championship at the age of 16.
Video Sofia Kenin
Early life and background
Kenin moved to the United States shortly after she was born. She started playing tennis at 5 years old. Her father Alex acts as her long-time coach. Sofia's parents recognized her potential and arranged for her to begin training with Rick Macci in Broward County, Florida. She has also worked with Nick Bollettieri. Her tennis idol is Maria Sharapova.
Maps Sofia Kenin
Junior career
Kenin reached a career high No. 2 in the ITF junior rankings in 2015. Representing the United States, she partnered with CiCi Bellis and Tornado Alicia Black to win the 2014 Junior Fed Cup. She was undefeated in her five matches. Her next breakthrough came towards the end of the year when she won the Orange Bowl in Florida, one of the highest level junior tournaments along with the junior grand slams.
Kenin built on that success in 2015 by winning the USTA International Spring Championships, a Grade 1 tournament. In the summer, she won the USTA Girls 18s National Championship by defeating Tornado Alicia Black in the final. With the title, she earned a wild card into the main draw of the 2015 US Open. She also participated in the junior event at the US Open and reached the final, her best performance at a junior grand slam.
Kenin continued to play on the junior tour in 2016 while primarily playing on the ITF pro circuit. At the Junior US Open, she again produced one of her best results of the year by reaching the semifinals, losing to Viktoria Kuzmova.
Professional career
Early years
Kenin began playing a few low-level tournaments on the ITF pro circuit in 2013 and won her first two professional matches at the age of 14. She made her grand slam debut at the 2015 US Open with her USTA junior national champion wild card. She lost in the first round to Mariana Duque-Mariño. In 2016, Kenin won her first two ITF titles at Wesley Chapel in Florida and at Sacramento in California. The second title helped her win the US Open Wild Card Challenge to earn a wild card into the main draw of the US Open for the second time.
Kenin started 2017 ranked outside of the Top 200, but would see her ranking steadily rise throughout the year as she played exclusively on the pro circuit. She broke into the Top 150 in August after a string of successful results during the summer, including winning the ITF $60K tournament at Stockton and reaching the final at another event at that level in Lexington. These ITF performances helped her clinch the US Open Wild Card Challenge for the second straight year. At the 2017 US Open, Kenin advanced beyond the first round of a grand slam for the first time, defeating her compatriots Lauren Davis and Sachia Vickery before losing to 2006 champion Maria Sharapova in the third round. These were also her first two match wins on the WTA tour. Kenin's success at the US Open helped convince her to turn pro in September, forgoing a scholarship to attend the University of Miami. She finished the year ranked 108, on the doorstep of the Top 100.
2018: Top 100 debut
Kenin continued her steady climb up the WTA rankings in the first half of 2018. She reached her first WTA quarterfinal at the ASB Classic in Auckland. She first broke into the Top 100 by reaching the second round of the Indian Wells Masters as a qualifier. Kenin followed this up with an even better performance at the next Premier Mandatory event the following week. At the Miami Open, she defeated No. 11 Daria Kasatkina to make it to the third round, again as a qualifier.
Playing style
Maria Sharapova and Petra Kvitová have both described Kenin as a grinder, someone who gets a lot of balls back in play. Kvitová also remarked the Kenin plays very aggressively, a trait Kenin's father said she developed in 2017 in her first full year on the pro tour.
ITF finals
Singles: 7 (3 titles, 4 runner-ups)
Doubles: 6 (2 titles, 4 runner-ups)
Singles performance timeline
Junior Grand Slam finals
Girls' Singles
References
External links
- Sofia Kenin at the Women's Tennis Association
- Sofia Kenin at the International Tennis Federation
Source of article : Wikipedia
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