Sofia Kenin: 2020 Australian Open Champion

Australian Open viewers have taken aim at Sofia Kenin's petulance in the women's final against Garbine Muguruza.



The 21-year-old American - who beat Aussie Ash Barty in straight sets to seal a spot in Saturday night's decider - was aiming to clinch her maiden grand slam singles title.



However, it was the experience of two-time major winner Muguruza that put the Spaniard in the driving seat early on.

The former World No.1 broke Kenin in the third game of the opening set to take an early advantage in the contest.



As the opening stanza wore on, Kenin became increasingly frustrated with her own game, banging her racquet into the ground on a number of occasions.

Back in 1987, 11 years before new Australian Open champion Sofia Kenin was born, her parents left Moscow for New York City, eager to escape the Soviet Union and live in the United States because, as her father, Alex, put it: “You want to see the world. You want a better future for your kids.”



Alex took English classes and attended computer school during the day; he drove for a car service at night, straining to understand the dispatcher’s radioed instructions.

“It was very tough,” he says now, “but it’s amazing the things you do when you need to survive.”



Just before Sofia was born, the family briefly returned to Russia so Grandma and other relatives could help with the baby. A few months later, the Kenins went back to New York. Eventually, they settled in Pembroke Pines, Florida, and it was in the driveway of their home there that Sofia, at age 3½, found her calling.

“I wasn’t into any other toys. I always liked to play with balls and with a racket. So my dad said, ‘Let’s go try it and play.’ Obviously I had great hand-eye coordination. I saw I was really different than other players,” she said, a Champagne flute an arm’s length away as she spoke with a small group of reporters after Saturday had turned to Sunday at Melbourne Park. “And people said, ‘You know she’s really special. Something about her.’ . . . And look where I am.”

Indeed, look at where, and who, she is: owner of a Grand Slam trophy and expected to be No. 7 — the highest U.S. woman currently — when the WTA rankings are released Monday.




Kenin won the last four games of the final at Melbourne Park with some gutsy play at the most crucial moments, beating two-time major winner Garbine Muguruza 4-6, 6-2, 6-2.

One key sequence decided the outcome.

Kenin faced three break points while serving at 2-all, love-40 in the third set. All she did was conjure up an ace and four point-ending groundstrokes on exchanges that all lasted 11 shots or more.

“She pulled out something unbelievable,” said Alex Kenin, who is his daughter’s coach and calls her “Sonya,” the Russian nickname for Sofia.



In all, Kenin converted five of six break points and erased 10 of Muguruza’s 12.

“Especially in the important moments, I think,” Muguruza said, “she came out with winners.”

Muguruza said she thought Kenin handled the emotions of a major final debut well and didn’t seem to show any jitters. Alex Kenin, though, said he could tell earlier in the day his child was nervous because he saw “tears in her eyes” and she was “trying to hold it back.”

The victory made Kenin the youngest Australian Open champion since 2008, when Maria Sharapova — someone else with Russian roots whose game was grown on the courts of Florida — was 20.

Kenin also will be the youngest American to make her debut in the Top 10 of the rankings since Serena Williams was 20 in 2002.

It was a win over Williams in the third round of the 2019 French Open, Kenin’s deepest run at a Grand Slam tournament until this week, that helped provide a boost that keeps propelling her forward.