Sofia Kenin, 24, is feeling “super happy and confident now” but admits it was extremely tough sitting on her couch injured and seeing other players across the Tour. At the start of the 2020 season, Kenin won the Australian Open and shortly after reached a career-high ranking of No 4 in the world.
But instead of continuing her rise, Kenin was hit by injuries and was forced to miss significant time in 2021 and 2022. “It’s tough when you’re just on the couch and you got a Grade-3 tear in the ankles. So, watching everyone compete, ofcourse you wanna be there and coming back was obviously tough.
But I was just used to playing around. Not really training obviously. So, it was tough, but I’m really good and I’m super happy,” Kenin said on Tennis Channel. Being injured was mentally tough for Kenin but having her family around made it easier for the 2020 Australian Open champion.
“It was obviously unfortunate [the injury], but managed to somehow have the people around me, my family, mom, dad, grandma and sisters. Dogs, I obviously count them and my friends supporting me. So, definitely you needed that and there were some bad day,” Kenin said.
Kenin ‘happy and confident’ now
Since the start of the 2023 season, Kenin has been competing without any problems. This week, Kenin kicked off her clay season with a 6-1 6-7 (5) 6-1 win over Aliaksandra Sasnovich in the Charleston first round.
“I feel like I’m playing really good and healthy no. 1 which is good and I’ve got dad and I’ve got [Michael] Joyce (coach). So, I’m super happy and I feel confident on court trying to develop different aspects of my game. And yeah, it’s been working out.
So far, so good, can’t complain,” Kenin said. It remains to be seen if Kenin can stay healthy and rediscover her best tennis in the remainder of 2022.
