Sofia Kenin, the 20-year-old who eliminated Serena Williams
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After what she did at the Roland Garros, the rising American tennis player of Russian origin became the focus of international sport
Before participating in the Roland Garros 2019, the tennis player Sofía Kenin had as best performances this year the tournament in Hobart, in January, and the final of Acapulco, where she played against the best ranked, Anna Schmiedlová from Slovakia and Yafan Wang from China. Even so, nobody knew her. After eliminating Serena Williams at Roland Garros, Kenin is already almost a celebrity. In fact, she had already stated that her goal is to consolidate, in the medium term, as number 1 of the WTA.
Leer en español: Sofia Kenin, la joven de 20 años que eliminó a Serena Williams
Her real name is Sonya Kenin, of Russian origin, and her debut in a Grand Slam was at the US Open 2015. During her career, she has won three individuals and one doubles titles at the ITF circuit to date. "I really want to become number 1 in the world, I worked very hard to get to the place where I am now, but I do not want my progress to stop here. My next goal is to win a Grand Slam," said Kenin in a recent interview reviewed in Mui Today.
Univisión highlighted Kenin's statement after the game, in which she showed humility and caution for her resounding triumph. "Serena is a great champion and I respect her a lot, I had to fight every point against her."
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She ended Serena's dream
The US multi-champion and former world No. 1 saw once again over her dream of reaching her 24th Grand Slams title, with which she would surpass the mark she shares with the Australian Margaret Court, after falling by 6-2 and 7-5 before Kenin. Williams acknowledged that "I did not expect to reach only the third round."
The AFP agency reiterated that the US star does not win a Grand Slam since the 2017 Australian Open, just before taking a break for her pregnancy. She returned a year later and, from there, she reached two Grand Slam finals, at Wimbledon and the US Open in 2018, although she did not win either of them.
In fact, before participating in this year's Roland Garros, she had only played nine matches (one on clay) due to physical problems, which is why she was one of the big doubts of this edition. "Physically I'm still far from my best form, I could not be on the track as much as I would have wanted in the last weeks, but I can start now," she had said before starting the tournament.
The 'magic' was over in the round of 16
Kenin could not advance further after eliminating Serena and was defeated, in the center court, in the match immediately after Serena's one, against the number 8, the Australian Asleigh Barty, with a 6-3, 3-6 and 6-0. However, she already begins to leave a mark with her playing style and her photogenic poses.
Coincidentally, the Czech Katerina Siniakova, who on the same day that Kenin eliminated Williams defeated the Japanese Naomi Osaka, could not sustain her good pace in the next phase against the American Madison Keys, number 14 on the planet, who swept her by 6 -2 and 6-4, closed AFP.
Maturity in her words
The specialized portal Punto de Break rescued other statements of the young American, in which they perceive much sobriety. "I think I did a great job controlling my emotions, at the time of closing the game I had many things to process in my head, it was not easy, I'm still trying to process what happened, before the game I knew I was prepared for what was coming, and I was ready to win the game".
Finally, she analyzed, on the court of Philippe-Chatrier, her famous rival. "When you play against Serena, you have to control the points, you have to take control, because if not she will it, she is the best of the best, I knew that I played before a top player so I went out to play my game. I played really good, she moved well, got a lot of balls inside the court, I'm very happy for what I did."
Mui Today ended by saying that Sofia was born on November 14, 1998, in Moscow, Russia, but since she was very young she lives in the United States and has an extremely low profile in social networks, because the tennis player shows little of her life and activities. In spite of that, some already compare her with Anna Kournikova, although with more sporting talent. Time will tell if Kenin will continue growing her image and being news, or will only remain as a promise.
LatinAmerican Post | Onofre Zambrano
Translated from "Sofia Kenin, la joven de 20 años que eliminó a Serena Williams"
