{"id":19297,"date":"2019-08-16T20:05:27","date_gmt":"2019-08-16T20:05:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/femcompetitor.com\/?p=19297"},"modified":"2021-08-30T01:15:52","modified_gmt":"2021-08-30T01:15:52","slug":"usas-sofia-kenin-blazing-star-from-russia-we-love","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/femcompetitor.com\/usas-sofia-kenin-blazing-star-from-russia-we-love\/","title":{"rendered":"USA\u2019s Sofia Kenin, Blazing Star From Russia We Love"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>August 16, 2019,<\/p>\n<p>Making comparisons to others from the past who traversed before you raises a philosophical question.<\/p>\n<p>Is that desirable?<\/p>\n<p>Maybe. Maybe not. At times it does seem unavoidable.<\/p>\n<p>Too, it usually depends upon how successfully the previous star traversed.<\/p>\n<p>Sofia Kenin is a beautiful, blonde young American professional tennis player.<\/p>\n<p>She is her own unique individual with a distinct personality but we must admit that after studying her videos she reminded us a lot of Anna Kournikova.<\/p>\n<p>In all fairness there are similarities.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Anna Sergeyevna Kournikova<\/strong> is a Russian former professional <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Tennis\">tennis<\/a> player.<\/p>\n<p>Her appearance and celebrity status made her one of the best known tennis stars worldwide. At the peak of her fame, fans looking for images of Ms. Kournikova made her name one of the most common search strings on <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Google_Search\">Google Search<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Despite never winning a singles title, she reached No.\u00a08 in the world in 2000.<\/p>\n<p>Yes Sofia is American but she was born in Russia and given her recent ascension the future appears to be very bright.<\/p>\n<p>Like Anna, she was born in Moscow.<\/p>\n<p>Though Anna never won a Grand Slam title, still at one point, being ranked as high as number eight in the world is a feat that few have accomplished.<\/p>\n<p>We hope that Sofia will one day surpass that. She certainly wants to and makes that clear rover and over.<\/p>\n<p>Trust us, being compared to Anna is a huge compliment and deservedly so.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Sofia Anna<\/strong> &#8220;<strong>Sonya<\/strong>&#8221; <strong>Kenin<\/strong> made her debut in the Top 100 of the <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Women%27s_Tennis_Association\">Women&#8217;s Tennis Association<\/a> (WTA) rankings in 2018 as a teenager. As a junior, she won the USTA Girls&#8217; 18s national championship at the age of 16.<\/p>\n<p>Sofia moved to the United States shortly after she was born. She started playing tennis at 5 years old. Her father Alex acts as her long-time coach. Sofia&#8217;s parents recognized her potential and arranged for her to begin training with <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Rick_Macci\">Rick Macci<\/a> in <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Broward_County,_Florida\">Broward County, Florida<\/a>. She has also worked with <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Nick_Bollettieri\">Nick Bollettieri<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Her tennis idol is <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Maria_Sharapova\">Maria Sharapova<\/a>. We love the Russian connection.<\/p>\n<p>Our rising American star reached a career high No. 2 in the ITF junior rankings in 2015. Representing the <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/United_States\">United States<\/a>, she partnered with <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/CiCi_Bellis\">CiCi Bellis<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Tornado_Alicia_Black\">Tornado Alicia Black<\/a> to win the 2014 Junior Fed Cup.<\/p>\n<p>She was undefeated in her five matches. Her next breakthrough came towards the end of the year when she won the <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Dunlop_Orange_Bowl\">Orange Bowl<\/a> in Florida, one of the highest level junior tournaments along with the junior grand slams.<\/p>\n<p>Sofia built on that success in 2015 by winning the USTA International Spring Championships, a Grade 1 tournament.<\/p>\n<p>In the summer, she won the USTA Girls 18s National Championship by defeating Tornado Alicia Black in the final. With the title, she earned a wild card into the main draw of the <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/2015_US_Open_%E2%80%93_Women%27s_Singles\">2015 US Open<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Now that is making it to the big leagues.<\/p>\n<p>If only she could duplicate the next achievement at the highest level.<\/p>\n<p>She also participated in the <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/2015_US_Open_-_Girls%27_Singles\">junior event<\/a> at the US Open and reached the final, her best performance at a junior grand slam.<\/p>\n<p>Sofia started 2017 ranked outside of the Top 200, but would see her ranking steadily rise throughout the year as she played exclusively on the pro circuit.<\/p>\n<p>She broke into the Top 150 in August after a string of successful results during the summer, including winning the ITF $60,000 tournament at <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/2017_Stockton_Challenger\">Stockton<\/a> and reaching the final at another event at that level in <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/2017_Kentucky_Bank_Tennis_Championships\">Lexington<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Good things happen to those who rise up.<\/p>\n<p>These ITF performances helped her clinch the US Open Wild Card Challenge for the second straight year. She would have a dream come true<\/p>\n<p>At the <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/2017_US_Open_-_Women%27s_Singles\">2017 US Open<\/a>, Sofia advanced beyond the first round of a grand slam for the first time, defeating her fellow Americans <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Lauren_Davis\">Lauren Davis<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Sachia_Vickery\">Sachia Vickery<\/a>. We featured Lauren who is making her move as well.<\/p>\n<h3><a href=\"https:\/\/femcompetitor.com\/lauren-davis-american-tennis-star-the-results-speak-for-themselves\/\"><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\">Lauren Davis, American Star, The Results Speak For Themselves<\/span><\/a><\/h3>\n<p>The New York Post was watching and wrote, \u201cAmerican wild card Sofia Kenin got a special present from her father after she notched her first Grand Slam win Monday, upsetting fellow American No. 32 Lauren Davis, 7-5, 7-5, in a hard fought first-round match at the US Open.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Wow. We sense Anna Kournikova would be proud.<\/p>\n<p>Sofia would have a dream come true by meeting her idol Maria Sharapova in the third round but did eventually succumb to this 2006 US Open champion.<\/p>\n<p>Still, that was quite a showing.<\/p>\n<p>These were also her first two match wins on the WTA tour. Her success at the US Open helped convince her to turn pro in September of 2017, forgoing a scholarship to attend the <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/University_of_Miami\">University of Miami<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>She finished the year ranked 108, knocking on the door of the Top 100.<\/p>\n<p>2018 would see her star continue to ascend.<\/p>\n<p>Sofia repeated her steady climb up the WTA rankings in the first half of 2018. She reached her first WTA quarterfinal at the <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/2018_ASB_Classic\">ASB Classic<\/a> in <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Auckland\">Auckland<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>She first broke into the Top 100 by reaching the second round of the <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/2018_Indian_Wells_Masters\">Indian Wells Masters<\/a> as a qualifier. Sofia followed this up with an even better performance at the next <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/WTA_Premier_tournaments\">Premier Mandatory<\/a> event the following week. At the <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/2018_Miami_Open\">Miami Open<\/a>, she defeated No. 11 <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Daria_Kasatkina\">Daria Kasatkina<\/a> to make it to the third round, again as a qualifier.<\/p>\n<p>In <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/2018_Mallorca_Open\">Mallorca<\/a>, Sofia qualified to the main draw and then reached her first semifinals at WTA level, defeating the top seed <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Caroline_Garcia\">Caroline Garcia<\/a> in quarterfinals. That was an incredible accomplishment defeating a star that we previously wrote about as well.<\/p>\n<h3><strong><u><a href=\"https:\/\/femcompetitor.com\/caroline-garcia-french-tennis-star-beautiful-brilliant-resilient\/\"><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\">Caroline Garcia, French Tennis Star, Beautiful, Brilliant, Resilient<\/span><\/a><\/u><\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>Part of being a tennis star is being able to promote yourself and develop a strong fan base. Having a dynamic website helps.<\/p>\n<h3><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\">Let\u2019s visit Sofia at hers.<\/span><\/h3>\n<p>She welcomes us and shares some personal information at sonyakenin.us. \u201cSofia Anna Kenin is 19 years old. Sofia or &#8220;Sonya&#8221;, what people who are close to her call her, is your typical teenager who loves movies, friends, music, i-Phone, playing with her sister and friends. Sonya, unlike most people, found her passion early in life, at age 5, when she first picked up her father\u2019s tennis racket and started hitting tennis balls.<\/p>\n<p>Sonya started playing United States Tennis Association (USTA) tournaments, Girls&#8217; 10 Singles, when she was seven, and in less than a year and a half she achieved a number one ranking in the State of Florida in the G10 Division. During that time she was able to focus on both her tennis and her school work while maintaining an &#8216;A&#8217; average.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Very impressive. Most of us who are parents know how difficult it can be for a teenager to maintain a full schedule and get straight A\u2019s as well. Bravo Sofia.<\/p>\n<p>Great results helps you to meet great people. Her group continues, \u201cHer outstanding talent and hard work at an early age gave her the opportunity to hit and interact with great champions such as Kim Clijsters, Anna Kournikova, John McEnroe, Venus Williams and Jim Courier.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>It appears her dreams continue to come true.<\/p>\n<p>So much of that for Sofia is due to her hard work ethic. She is someone that her fellow tennis stars have described as a grinder. She also has incredible family support as her father travels with her as a coach.<\/p>\n<p>Sofia is not all work and no play. She loves to relax at the beach and socialize with family and friends watching movies and shopping.<\/p>\n<p>One of her best friends is a fellow tennis player in Sasha Morozova who has a great Instagram <a href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/sashhmorozova\/\">https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/sashhmorozova\/<\/a>\u00a0 You should check it out.<\/p>\n<p>If Sofia continues to win, she certainly will be able to add more special pieces to her Tiffany collection.<\/p>\n<p>2019 has been a very special year for her.<\/p>\n<p>Sofia began the 2019 season by winning her first WTA doubles title at the <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/2019_ASB_Classic\">Auckland Open<\/a> alongside <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Eugenie_Bouchard\">Eugenie Bouchard<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>The following week, she won her maiden WTA singles title at the <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/2019_Hobart_International\">Hobart International<\/a> without dropping a set during the event. She upset the top seed and No. 19 Caroline Garcia in the first round before defeating <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Anna_Karol%C3%ADna_Schmiedlov%C3%A1\">Anna Karol\u00edna Schmiedlov\u00e1<\/a> in the final.<\/p>\n<p>This propelled our rising luminary to a career-best ranking of No. 37.<\/p>\n<p>At the <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/2019_Australian_Open\">Australian Open<\/a>, she pushed world No. 1 <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Simona_Halep\">Simona Halep<\/a> to three sets in the second round, ultimately losing in a long two-hour-and-thirty minute marathon.<\/p>\n<p>Then there was this headline at ftw.usatoday.com, \u201cSerena Williams quest for a record-tying 24th Grand Slam win will have to wait until Wimbledon later this summer after she lost in the Round of 32 at the French Open on Saturday to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.usatoday.com\/story\/sports\/tennis\/french\/2019\/06\/01\/serena-williams-loses-french-open-sofia-kenin-third-round\/1312637001\/\">fellow American Sofia Kenin, 6-2, 7-5<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n<h3><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\">That was incredible.<\/span><\/h3>\n<p>Ms. Kenin opened her summer hard court season on a continued rise.<\/p>\n<p>At the Roger\u2019s Cup, Kenin came back from a set down to upset World No. 1 <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Ashleigh_Barty\">Ashleigh Barty<\/a> in the second round, avenging her loss to the Aussie at the French Open.<\/p>\n<p>We watched her play match by match at the Toronto Roger\u2019s Cup and her play was incredible as she finally succumbed in the semifinals to the eventual tournament winner Bianca Andreescu of Canada.<\/p>\n<p>2019 US Open? Look out. Sofia Kenin is blazing hot.<\/p>\n<p>As of this August 15, 2019 writing, she is tearing it up in Cincinnati at the Masters tournament.<\/p>\n<p>She is not shy about it. She wants to reach the world\u2019s number one ranking.<\/p>\n<p>That was something that Anna was never able to do but Sofia seems to have a different focus.<\/p>\n<p>A special focus.<\/p>\n<p>Here is her profile story: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=7C_BsL05cpw\">https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=7C_BsL05cpw<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Anna Kournikova achieved greater success playing doubles, where she was at times the <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/List_of_WTA_number_1_ranked_players\">world No.\u00a01<\/a> player. With <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Martina_Hingis\">Martina Hingis<\/a> as her partner, she won <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Grand_Slam_(tennis)\">Grand Slam titles<\/a> in <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Australian_Open\">Australia<\/a> in <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/1999_Australian_Open\">1999<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/2002_Australian_Open\">2002<\/a>, and the <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/WTA_Championships\">WTA Championships<\/a> in <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/1999_WTA_Tour_Championships\">1999<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/2000_WTA_Tour_Championships\">2000<\/a>. They referred to themselves as the &#8220;<a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Spice_Girls\">Spice Girls<\/a> of Tennis&#8221;.<\/p>\n<p>You see, if you hang in there long enough, it opens the door to some wonderful possibilities, even if like Anna, you have to travel another pathway to get there.<\/p>\n<p>We loved watching Sofia Kenin play including her grueling match with another top star in Naomi Osaka who we also wrote about.<\/p>\n<h3><a href=\"https:\/\/femcompetitor.com\/naomi-osaka-wta-rising-star-from-the-land-of-the-rising-sun\/\"><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\">Naomi Osaka, WTA Rising Star From The Land Of The Rising Sun<\/span><\/a><\/h3>\n<p>Good for Sofia.<\/p>\n<p>When your name and game keeps getting mentioned with the brightest luminaries of the tennis world, we sense that like another gorgeous blonde Russian girl from the past\u2026\u2026<\/p>\n<p>Sofia is ready to spice things up.<\/p>\n<h3><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\">The tennis world is watching.<\/span><\/h3>\n<p>~ ~ ~<\/p>\n<p><strong>Opening photo\u00a0 via beIN-Sports\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Sofia_Kenin\"><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\">https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Sofia_Kenin<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\"><a style=\"color: #0000ff;\" href=\"http:\/\/www.wtatennis.com\/players\/player\/320942\/title\/sofia-kenin\">http:\/\/www.wtatennis.com\/players\/player\/320942\/title\/sofia-kenin<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\"><a style=\"color: #0000ff;\" href=\"http:\/\/sonyakenin.us\/\">http:\/\/sonyakenin.us\/<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\"><a style=\"color: #0000ff;\" href=\"http:\/\/www.tennis.com\/pro-game\/2017\/08\/sofia-kenin-lauren-davis-2017-us-open-tennis\/68847\/\">http:\/\/www.tennis.com\/pro-game\/2017\/08\/sofia-kenin-lauren-davis-2017-us-open-tennis\/68847\/<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\"><a style=\"color: #0000ff;\" href=\"http:\/\/www.usopen.org\/en_US\/news\/articles\/2017-08-28\/2017-08-28_a_new_american_upstart_at_the_us_open.html\">http:\/\/www.usopen.org\/en_US\/news\/articles\/2017-08-28\/2017-08-28_a_new_american_upstart_at_the_us_open.html<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\"><a style=\"color: #0000ff;\" href=\"https:\/\/www.famousbirthdays.com\/people\/sofia-kenin.html\">https:\/\/www.famousbirthdays.com\/people\/sofia-kenin.html<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\"><a style=\"color: #0000ff;\" href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2017\/08\/29\/how-dad-rewarded-american-teen-after-us-open-shocker\/\">https:\/\/nypost.com\/2017\/08\/29\/how-dad-rewarded-american-teen-after-us-open-shocker\/<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\"><a style=\"color: #0000ff;\" href=\"https:\/\/ftw.usatoday.com\/2019\/06\/serena-williams-sofia-kenin-upset-french-open-tennis\">https:\/\/ftw.usatoday.com\/2019\/06\/serena-williams-sofia-kenin-upset-french-open-tennis<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>August 16, 2019, Making comparisons to others from the past who traversed before you raises a philosophical question.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":20450,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[3372,2750,3366,3374,3373,3371,3375],"class_list":["post-19297","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news-article","tag-anna-kournikova","tag-caroline-garcia","tag-cici-bellis","tag-maria-sharapova","tag-nick-bollettieri","tag-sofia-kenin","tag-tornado-alicia-black"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/femcompetitor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/masks-2020-pexels.com-pixabay.com_.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/femcompetitor.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19297","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/femcompetitor.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/femcompetitor.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/femcompetitor.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/femcompetitor.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19297"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/femcompetitor.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19297\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":23245,"href":"https:\/\/femcompetitor.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19297\/revisions\/23245"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/femcompetitor.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/20450"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/femcompetitor.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19297"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/femcompetitor.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19297"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/femcompetitor.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19297"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}