It only takes a few minutes of watching Sofia Kenin on a tennis court to realise just how tenacious she is.
The 21-year-old Moscow-born American is through to her maiden Grand Slam quarterfinal this fortnight in Melbourne, where she faces fellow last-eight debutant Ons Jabeur of Tunisia on Tuesday.
For someone who is seeded 14 this tournament, she may be flying slightly under the radar, but her run to the quarters certainly comes as no surprise, especially to those who saw Kenin clinch three WTA titles from four finals reached last season, and those who witnessed her third-round victory over Serena Williams at Roland Garros last June.
A fierce competitor with a fighting spirit that has prompted comparisons between her and Russian five-time Grand Slam champion Maria Sharapova, Kenin is a player was voted the WTA most improved player in 2019.
Her father and coach Alexander understands why people see a little bit of Sharapova in his daughter when she’s on the court.
“It’s probably one of her Russian heritage traits. And she’s [Sharapova is] her idol as well,” he says.
Alexander Kenin also believes he and his wife Lena played a role in instilling that grit in her.
“I guess both of us are pretty stubborn people but her mum is a pretty tough cookie. I have been married to her for a long time so I know firsthand,” he adds with a smile.
Kenin came through a tough fourth-round match on Sunday, where she battled back from a set down to knock out 15-year-old phenom Coco Gauff.
There is a considerable amount of attention that follows Gauff anywhere she goes, ever since she became the youngest to ever qualify for a Wimbledon main draw last July, which she followed by upsetting Venus Williams in the first round there, en route to the last 16. She reached the US Open third round a couple of months later and finished 2019 with a WTA title under her belt and a place in the world’s top 70.
For Kenin, the focus is more on what’s within her rather than the reaction or attention she is getting from the outside.
She acknowledges that she is fast becoming a feared opponent by many in the locker room and believes she’s done the work to get to that position.
“I didn't do it for the hype. I did it for myself because I wanted to prove to myself that I could do it. Yeah, I've done it, so...” she said after booking a spot in the quarterfinals.
“I want to show who I am, show my best tennis, show why I'm there, why I belong. I'm doing that. Yeah, I'm happy.”
Alexander Kenin says backing up a breakthrough season like the one his daughter had in 2019 is harder than getting there in the first place, but they’re sticking to their same routines, and are just focusing on playing matches and tournaments, without setting any high expectations.
Does he ever look back at Kenin’s win over Williams in Paris last year and assess its significance in his daughter’s journey?
“Probably because if you just think about it, from a different level it’s unreal. She’s getting a lot of confidence from it. You beat Serena Williams, what else do you want to do? You can go and just die right there, you’re done. It’s nice. It helps,” he says with a laugh.
Fathers coaching their daughters is nothing new in tennis and it is not always an easy balance to strike between being a parent and being a coach. But for Alexander Kenin, he is always the father, even when they are working.
“We are father and daughter, even on court. I would imagine just because it’s a different language it just maybe seems a little harsher, or it’s a little more tense than it is [during on-court coaching visits]. I’m not cursing or something. It’s very father-daughter relationship. It’s always there,” he explains.
As tough as she is on court, Alexander Kenin assures his daughter is quite relaxed off it. They try to make sure she is enjoying the ride as much as possible, despite the high-pressure situations involved in a competitive sport like tennis.
“She is funny, maybe sometimes too funny,” he jokes.
“She’s interested in movies, and all these things young girls like, Instagram, Facebook and in my opinion things that she thinks have value and they don’t. But that’s her age. She’s acting like her age and I think she is enjoying what’s going on. We’d like to take that ride as far as possible and in the meantime let her enjoy it and not go crazy about it.”
Kenin has big goals for 2020, which she hopes to end by qualifying for the WTA Finals in Shenzhen. She competed in Shenzhen as the second alternate last year, which gave her a taste of what it’s like to be among the crème de la crème of her tour.
“Olympics, of course, that’s the first one, and hopefully to qualify for Shenzhen,” she told ausopen.com of her targets for the year.
“I saw the experience in Shenzhen, it was so nice, you really get spoiled there and I can see what I have to work for. Great things happen once you’re there, how they treat you, the hospitality, everything is just so professionally done, you get really spoiled. I kind of like getting spoiled so I would love to get there,” she adds with a chuckle.
Kenin is 2-0 in tour-level matches against her next opponent at the Australian Open, having defeated Jabeur in Hobart and in Mallorca (via retirement) last year.
Kenin and Jabeur enjoy a friendly relationship and they traded some banter after their fourth-round wins when they were cooling down on adjacent bikes.
“She's an amazing competitor. I saw her actually at the gym. I was like, ‘Are you tired or are you sore?’ She was laughing,” said the 25-year-old Jabeur.
“She was like, ‘You look red’. I was like, ‘That's my colour’. She's a nice person outside the locker. It's nice to see someone like this. Hopefully it's going to be a good match.”