78 Facts About Sofia Kenin

Sofia Anna "Sonya" Kenin was born on November 14,1998 and is an American professional tennis player.

Sofia Kenin has a career-high ranking by the Women's Tennis Association of No 4 in the world, which she achieved on March 9,2020.

Sofia Kenin was the 2020 WTA Player of the Year, an award she earned by winning the 2020 Australian Open and finishing runner-up at the 2020 French Open.

When Sofia Kenin was a child, she drew the attention of veteran coach Rick Macci at the age of five and became a celebrity in the tennis community soon after.

Sofia Kenin won the USTA Girls 18s National Championship during that summer.

Sofia Kenin won her first three titles in 2019 and finished the year just outside the top 10.

Sofia Kenin was born in Moscow to Alexander and Svetlana Kenin.

Sofia Kenin's family moved to the United States a few months after she was born.

Sofia Kenin's mother had worked as a nurse in the Soviet Union, and her parents had only $286 when they first moved to the United States.

Sofia Kenin began playing tennis at the age of five, drawing inspiration from her father who had played recreationally.

Sofia Kenin's parents recognized her potential and arranged for her to begin training with Rick Macci in Broward County, Florida.

Sofia Kenin had success in tennis at a young age, which garnered widespread attention in the tennis community and helped put her on the covers of tennis magazines.

Sofia Kenin began playing in United States Tennis Association girls' 10-and-under tournaments at the age of seven, and became the top-ranked player in Florida in that division.

Sofia Kenin later was ranked No 1 in the USTA national rankings for each of the 12,14,16, and 18-and-under divisions.

Sofia Kenin had the opportunity to interact with ATP and WTA professional tennis players as a young child, including hitting with Anna Kournikova at age seven, partnering with Jim Courier against Venus Williams and Todd Martin as part of an exhibition event, and receiving a tour of the Miami Open from Kim Clijsters.

Sofia Kenin reached a career-high of No 2 in the ITF junior rankings.

Sofia Kenin began playing in low-level Grade-4 events on the ITF Junior Circuit in 2012 at the age of 13.

Sofia Kenin made her junior Grand Slam debut in 2014, but only recorded one match win in singles while playing in the latter three events of the year.

Sofia Kenin went undefeated in her five matches, all in doubles.

Sofia Kenin built on that success in 2015 by winning the USTA International Spring Championships, a Grade-1 tournament.

Sofia Kenin participated in the junior event at the US Open and finished runner-up to Dalma Galfi, her best performance at a junior Grand Slam event.

Sofia Kenin continued to play on the junior tour in 2016 while primarily playing in professional events on the ITF Women's Circuit.

Sofia Kenin began playing low-level tournaments on the ITF Women's Circuit in 2013 and won her first two professional matches at the age of 14.

Sofia Kenin finished the year ranked No 108 in the world.

Sofia Kenin began the year by reaching her first WTA quarterfinal at the Auckland Open.

Sofia Kenin entered the top 100 by reaching the second round of the Indian Wells Open as a qualifier.

Sofia Kenin defeated top seed and world No 6, Caroline Garcia, for her first career top-ten victory before losing to Tatjana Maria.

Sofia Kenin closed out the grass-court season with a second-round appearance at Wimbledon, winning her debut at the event against Maria Sakkari.

Back in the United States, Sofia Kenin won another $60k title at the Berkeley Club Challenge.

Sofia Kenin reached the third round of the US Open for the second consecutive year, losing to Pliskova at the event for the second time.

Sofia Kenin defeated world No 10, Julia Gorges, at the Wuhan Open for her second top-ten victory of the year.

Sofia Kenin greatly improved in 2019, rising from outside the top 50 at the start of the year to just outside the top ten by the end of the season.

Sofia Kenin began her year by winning her first WTA doubles title at the Auckland Open with Eugenie Bouchard.

Sofia Kenin reached the third round at the Italian Open, defeating compatriot Madison Keys before losing to Pliskova.

Sofia Kenin defeated three top-25 players in the final three rounds, all in three sets.

Sofia Kenin saved three championship points in the second set of the final against No 13 Belinda Bencic, before coming from behind to win the match.

Sofia Kenin became the first player to defeat the world No 1 in back-to-back weeks since Lindsay Davenport had done so in 2001.

Sofia Kenin won her third singles title of the year at the Guangzhou International Women's Open, defeating Samantha Stosur in the final.

Sofia Kenin won her opening match against compatriot Alison Riske, but lost to Karolina Muchova and did not advance out of her round-robin group.

Sofia Kenin was named the second alternate at the WTA Finals, behind Kiki Bertens.

Sofia Kenin finished the year ranked No 14 in singles and No 39 in doubles.

Sofia Kenin received the WTA award Most Improved Player of the Year for her breakthrough season, becoming the first American player to win the award since Serena Williams in 1999.

Sofia Kenin carried her success at the lower-level tournaments in 2019 to the Grand Slam tournaments in 2020.

Sofia Kenin then defeated Garbine Muguruza in the final, coming from a set down.

Sofia Kenin became the youngest American to make her top-ten debut in the WTA rankings since Williams in 1999, rising to No 7 in the world.

Sofia Kenin won four three-set matches during the first five rounds before defeating No 11, Petra Kvitova, in the semifinals.

Sofia Kenin lost the final in straight sets to Iga Swiatek.

Sofia Kenin defeated Yang Zhaoxuan in the first round, and was the beneficiary of a retirement by Kirsten Flipkens in the second round.

Sofia Kenin met Garbine Muguruza in a rematch of the Australian Open final, but Kenin won just four games.

At the Australian Open, Sofia Kenin was the defending champion and fourth seed.

Sofia Kenin defeated Australian wildcard player Maddison Inglis in the first round but was upset by the unseeded Kaia Kanepi in the second, in straight sets.

Sofia Kenin's loss was the earliest for a defending champion at the Australian Open since Jennifer Capriati lost in the first round in 2003.

Sofia Kenin then received a wildcard for the Phillip Island Trophy, a tournament for players who suffered an early exit at the Australian Open, where she was the top seed and in receipt of a first-round bye.

Sofia Kenin suffered a second-round defeat at Stuttgart to Anett Kontaveit, and lost her first match at Rome to Barbora Krejcikova.

In May 2021, Sofia Kenin announced that she was parting ways with her father as coach.

On 9 November 2021, Sofia Kenin announced that her father had returned to her coaching team as she prepared for the 2022 Australian Open.

Sofia Kenin finished the year ranked No 12 in singles.

Sofia Kenin made her way to the quarterfinals of Adelaide 1 where she lost to the top-seeded Ash Barty in straight sets, marking her first quarterfinal appearance since Melbourne 2021.

Sofia Kenin began her season at the 2023 ASB Classic, beating Wang Xinyu in the first round before losing to top seed and eventual champion Coco Gauff.

Sofia Kenin next reached her first tour-level semifinal since the 2020 French Open at the 2023 Hobart International.

Sofia Kenin lost in the first round of the 2023 Linz Open to Jule Niemeier.

Sofia Kenin recorded her first top 20 win, again since the 2020 French Open, by defeating World No 15 Liudmila Samsonova at the 2023 Qatar Open in straight sets.

Sofia Kenin then lost to Veronika Kudermetova in the second round.

Sofia Kenin lost in the first round of Dubai to Marie Bouzkova.

Sofia Kenin reached the second round at Indian Wells where she defeated Sloane Stephens in the first round before losing to eventual champion Elena Rybakina in two close sets.

Sofia Kenin defeated Aliaksandra Sasnovich in Charleston to open her clay season, before losing to Irina-Camelia Begu.

Sofia Kenin was defeated by Maryna Zanevska in the first round of Madrid.

At the 2023 Italian Open, Sofia Kenin defeated Cristina Bucsa in the opening round.

Sofia Kenin then recorded one of the biggest wins of her career by defeating World No 2 and reigning Madrid champion Aryna Sabalenka in straight sets in the second round.

The match lasted 3 hours and 45 minutes, and ended with Siniakova needing to save two match points on Sofia Kenin's serve in the third set before coming from behind to win.

Sofia Kenin has an aggressive style of play that is built around incorporating a variety of shots into her game rather than just power.

Sofia Kenin plays primarily from the baseline and can hit winners with both her forehand and backhand.

Sofia Kenin excels at disguising whether her backhand is going cross-court or down the line.

Sofia Kenin had previously been described by Maria Sharapova as more of a "grinder," that is, a counter-puncher who has good movement and gets a lot of balls back in play without trying to end points.

Between 2018 and 2022, Sofia Kenin was endorsed by Fila for her clothing and shoes, having previously been sponsored by Nike.

Since 2022, Sofia Kenin has been sponsored by the American athletics company Free People Movement.

In January 2021, Sofia Kenin signed an endorsement deal with American consumer electronics and telecommunications company Motorola.

Outside of the WTA Tour, Sofia Kenin has participated in World TeamTennis.