At Wimbledon, Sofia Kenin rediscovers her fighting form

It’s been three and a half years since Sofia Kenin put both hands to her face and burst into tears in Melbourne. That night, at 21, she had just won the Australian Open, emphasizing to the world her ferocious will to fight for every point, every shot.

When her hands came down she didn’t even smile, her concentration apparently focused on keeping her composure as she soaked in the moment of her life.

To this day, Kenin says, remembering that triumph requires a bit of a mental block.

“I try not to think about it too much because I might get a little emotional,” she said on Thursday after her biggest win in more than two years. “I mean, it happened, and I absolutely believe I can get there again.”

In recent years, that possibility seemed extremely remote for Kenin, the Moscow-born American player. But in the first week of Wimbledon, she has shown some of the skill and tenacity that once propelled her to the top of women’s tennis.

On Monday, she defeated Coco Gauff in the first round. On Thursday, she defeated Xinyu Wang 6-4, 6-3 to bust into the third round of a major tournament for the first time since reaching the fourth round of the 2021 French Open.

She is still in the early stages of a campaign to find her way back to relevance. She knows there are skeptics out there wondering if she can do it, and she said Thursday she was motivated to prove those people wrong.

“I just had to find my way,” she said. “I fought. I just hope I can keep it up.”

That would mean that Elina Svitolina, the 76th seeded player on the tour, would have to be eliminated in the third round on Friday.

Kenin arrived at Wimbledon ranked 128th in the world and needed to win three matches in the qualifying rounds to get into the main draw. That may be less than some former Grand Slam tournament champions, but Kenin approached the task with determination, humility and a bit of humor, saying that if she had known taking part in the so-called qualifiers would have allowed her to advance to the third round of the main round. drawing, she would do it regularly.

But there was a time when she expected to get a high placement in every tournament she entered. After Kenin won the Australian Open in 2020 by beating Garbiñe Muguruza, her ranking rose to fourth in the world and her future seemed so promising.

However, the next three years turned into a desperate struggle. Among the obstacles in her path, Kenin suffered a grade three ankle tear; underwent emergency appendectomy; publicly divorced with her father and coach, Alexander Kenin; and contracted the coronavirus. A year ago, her position had dropped to No. 426 in the world, and in January it was still No. 280.

Kenin reunited with her father in the fall of 2021, eight months after announcing on social media that she had fired him. He sat in the audience on Thursday, watching closely as Kenin dismantled Wang on small court No. 4, an outer court with a capacity of only a few hundred, in the shadow of Center Court. Kenin has worked with different coaches over the years, but her father is back as part of the team, a constant presence again, and Kenin said he was part of her recent success.

“I definitely think it clicks,” she said, “Of course, with all the exercises and just doing everything right. I work really hard, and he’s just been there for me, and I’m very grateful for that.

On the pitch, she dominated Wang, with an agile slice that is so effective on grass, and especially the taller Wang, who often struggled to get low enough to punch through the ball and return it effectively. Kenin also relied on her improved serve, repeatedly putting balls inside the lines on all sides of the pitch, just as she had done against Gauff.

In both competitions and in the qualifying phase, she showed her unquestionable competitive zeal.

“Obviously she has won a Grand Slam, but she is at a difficult point in her career,” said Gauff after their match. “I knew that when she came in she would play with a lot of motivation.”

Her victory on Thursday marked only the fourth time in the entire year that she had won two games in a row. But she credited a loss for helping her change her fortunes this year. In March at Indian Wells, she lost in straight sets to Elena Rybakina, who was then ranked No. 10 but is now No. 3 after winning the French Open the previous month. However, both sets went to tiebreaks and Kenin took the experience and converted it into riding confidence.

Rybakina had reached the Australian Open final the previous month and Kenin used the match to measure her progress and her ability to handle the best.

“I felt like that was a bit of a turning point for me,” she said.

The following week, she won two matches at the Miami Open before falling to Bianca Andreescu and has since gone 9–6, including the Wimbledon qualifying rounds.

She still has a long way to go, both in terms of ranking and consistency. But for the first time in two years, she’s back in the fray.

“I knew if I put the work in and do the right things, it will eventually click,” she said, “and I’m super glad it clicked here.”