facing fellow wild card Venus Williams in a blockbuster US Open Arthur Ashe Stadium night clash <\/a>between two American Grand Slam champions.<\/p>\nBoth former champions figure to be pumped for major revival: 46-year-old Venus is bidding to snap a 14-match singles losing streak. The 110th-ranked Kenin, who pushed 2025 Wimbledon finalist Amanda Anisimova to a third-set tiebreaker at Wimbledon in July, is aiming to kick-start her season.<\/p>\n
Though her lone prior match vs. Venus came in World TeamTennis, Kenin famously shocked Serena Williams, 6-2, 7-5, in the 2019 Roland Garros third round and was pinching back tears after that momentous victory.<\/p>\n
\u00a0The 5\u20197\u201d Kenin possesses the rare quality of turning adversity into adrenaline to fuel her fight. The 1110th-ranked American fought off two set points in both the first and second sets stunning world No. 1 Ashleigh Barty and silencing vocal Aussie fans on Rod Laver Arena in the 2020 AO semifinals.<\/p>\n
Some players carry a chip on their shoulder, Kenin\u2019s entire career has been built on defying doubters. Kenin can redirect the ball sharply down the lines and flick soft drop shots fluttering into the short court.<\/p>\n
A lifelong Babolat Pure Drive player\u2014Kenin fell in love with the Pure Drive because her favorite player, Andy Roddick, used it\u2014the former world No. 3 played in a Babolat-sponsored exo and clinic alongside Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard, Camila Osorio, Jerry Shang and other Babolat stars at Court 16 in Long Island City last night.<\/p>\n
Afterward, we caught up with Kenin for this Q&A in which she discusses facing Venus at the Open, the challenges the Flushing Meadows major poses and her trademark drop shot.<\/p>\n
Tennis Now: Sofia, when the schedule came out that match\u2014you against Venus\u2014really pops off the page for opening night. Two American Grand Slam champions, electric night match, both of you get great crowd support in New York, it\u2019s exciting for American tennis. What\u2019s your view on facing Venus at the Open?<\/p>\n
Sofia Kenin: Definitely. Yes it is exciting. Venus is such an icon, a legend, along, obviously with Serena.<\/p>\n
So I\u2019m really excited to play Venus. I think for the U.S., for American tennis, I think that\u2019s going to be a really nice, fun, exciting match. I\u2019m really looking forward to it.<\/p>\n
Tennis Now: You\u2019ve won the Australian Open, you\u2019ve played a Roland Garros final how does the atmosphere in New York at the Open for you as an American compare to other Slams?<\/p>\n
Sofia Kenin: Yeah, well the support of New York fans are always behind my back, which I love, playing in the U.S.\u00a0<\/p>\n
It\u2019s New York. It\u2019s the Big Apple. I love the energy. I love being here. So I\u2019m just really excited for all the support.<\/p>\n
Tennis Now: As you said, Venus is an iconic champion. What are your memories of facing and watching her or hitting with her?<\/p>\n
Sofia Kenin: I mean, we haven\u2019t hit much. I played with her years ago in World TeamTennis. Obviously, that\u2019s totally different than when I play her at the US Open on Sunday.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Obviously, I looked up to Venus when I was little. I watched her a lot. She\u2019s a tremendous icon and player and person along with Serena. So I have a lot of respect for them.<\/p>\n
Tennis Now: On the stylistic side of it, Venus had one of the biggest serves the WTA has seen and you\u2019re one of the best returners. Can you talk about that stylistic match-up when you, as a good returner, go up against good servers. Is that a challenge you like? It\u2019s a very cool stylistic match up? How do you aim to adapt?<\/p>\n
Sofia Kenin: Oh God [laughs]. I\u2019m happy you say my returns are good because that\u2019s good to hear. Okay, good.Yeah, I\u2019m excited about playing. Definitely looking forward to it.<\/p>\n
Tennis Now: I notice the first shot you hit tonight in this exhibition was a drop shot\u2014it was a good one too. You\u2019re known for\u00a0 your dropper and Venus is 46 years old. Will we see you use the drop shot a lot against Venus? Try to make her move?<\/p>\n
Sofia Kenin: I was trying to find it early today. I mean, Venus is not going to give me many opportunities [to hit the drop shot]. She hits flat and can hit deep. I\u2019m just going to have to play my game and build the points as I would against anyone.<\/p>\n
If I have the opportunity for the drop shot, I\u2019ll definitely throw it in there.<\/p>\n
Tennis Now: You\u2019ve played Babolat racquets, the Pure Drive, your whole life, right?<\/p>\n
Sofia Kenin: Yes, yes.<\/p>\n
Tennis Now: So how did you develop that drop shot and that feel? Like you and Carlos, both Babolat players, both fantastic drop shots. In your case, when players like Roddick and Moya and Clijsters were using the Pure Drive, it had a reputation as a big power and big spin stick yet you\u2019ve always been able to carve out some drop shots, slices, some fine finesse. How do you do that?<\/p>\n
Sofia Kenin: Yeah. I guess me and Carlos find a way to do it [laughs].<\/p>\n
I don\u2019t know. It\u2019s something that comes from practice, from talent, from trying different things. Obviously, we both do use the racquet for power and stuff. We both can hit pretty big\u2014well Carlos can hit big, not me, not me [laughs].<\/p>\n
It\u2019s always been a part of my game.<\/p>\n
Tennis Now: When you\u2019re playing your best tennis you can corner the opponent with the sharp crosscourt backhand and then rip the backhand winner down the line into the open space. How do you know when to pull the trigger down the line? Is it your court positioning? Your opponent\u2019s court positioning? Anticipation?<\/p>\n
Sofia Kenin: Well, you just feel it.<\/p>\n
Obviously, if it\u2019s an easier ball you kind of move the opponent more. And then you expect a shorter ball and when you get it, you either hit the drop shot or you can just hit it down the line.\u00a0<\/p>\n
I hit down the line to try to be aggressive.<\/p>\n
Tennis Now: I\u2019ll never forget the way you closed that 2020 AO final vs. Garbine Muguruza. You were just on fire at the end, drilling the ball off the lines and really going for it. When you\u2019re playing your best, when you\u2019re in the zone like that, what is going right? What is your feeling or state of mind in those kind of super moments?<\/p>\n
Sofia Kenin: Well, obviously the adrenaline really kicked in in that moment in Australia. When you\u2019re playing the finals of the Australian Open a lot of things kick in, yeah.<\/p>\n
And the adrenaline kicked in and my game just came together and I had no fears or thoughts. Fearless, yeah, exactly that.<\/p>\n
When things go right like in the Australian Open final or reaching the French Open final it\u2019s like all the practices, all the matches, all the work you put it, it all comes together, with the adrenaline, and everything just clicks.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"By Richard Pagliaro | Saturday, August 29, 2026Photo credit: Lexie Wanninger\/San Diego Open NEW YORK\u2014Sofia Kenin knows the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":872963,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[565],"tags":[64,63,85,747],"class_list":["post-872962","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tennis","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-sports","tag-tennis"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/872962","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=872962"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/872962\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/872963"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=872962"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=872962"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=872962"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}