Last Updated on September 5, 2022
The Russian child prodigy was born in Moscow on November 14, 1998. Her parents are Alexander and Svetlana Kenin. They emigrated to the United States shortly after she was born. After watching her father play Tennis for fun, Sofia picked up the sport at age five. Her parents saw the potential in her and arranged for her to start training in Broward County, Florida, with Rick Macci.
Sofia currently plays Tennis for America. She holds a Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) world No. 4 ranking, which she attained on March 9, 2020. Sofia won the 2020 Australian Open and placed second at the 2020 French Open to receive the 2020 WTA Player of the Year title. Sofia won two WTA doubles titles and five WTA singles championships throughout her career.
In 2005, Sofia started competing in the United States Tennis Association (USTA) girls’ under-ten tournaments, and she quickly rose to the top of the Florida rankings in that category. After that, she held top spots in the 12, 14, 16, and 18-and -under divisions of the USTA national rankings. Sofia became a Professional in 2017. She adored tennis players Serena Williams and Maria Sharapova as a child.
Who Is Sofia Kenin’s Current Coach?
Alexander Kenin
Sofia Kenin’s current Coach is her father, Alexander Kenin. He has been coaching her since 2010, stopped in 2021, and was rehired in 2022. She had to stop working with him briefly because she had a rough start in 2021. He is currently 70 years old. He is a citizen of America but is of mixed ethnicity. He relocated to America months after he gave birth to his daughter. The fitness enthusiast used to play Tennis recreationally.
While Sofia was under her father’s stewardship, she attained a career-high ranking of No. 2 in the International Tennis Federation (ITF) junior rankings. Upon clocking 13, she started competing in Grade 4 events on the ITF Junior Circuit. She won her maiden titles in both singles and doubles, which helped her advance to Grade 1.
In 2014, she joined Cici Bellis and Black in representing America at the Junior Fed Cup, and the trio was defeated by Slovakia 3-0 in the championship match to claim victory. She also won the Orange Bowl towards the end of the year.
Beginning in 2015, she won the Grade 1 USTA International Spring Championship and the USTA Girls 18s National Championship. Due to that victory, she received a wild card into the main draw of the 2015 Us Open. At the junior Grand Slam event that same year, she finished second place, propelling her to No. 2 in the world by the end of the year.
Her father guided her to a $25k contest in Wesley Chapel, Florida, and a $50k contest in Sacramento, California, which she both won. These were Sofia’s first two ITF victories enabling her to qualify for the US Open as a wild card the second time.
Alexander guided her to a $60k win at the Stockholm ITF event, and at the 2017 Us Open, she advanced to the third round before losing to Maria Sharapova. Sofia became a professional in September 2017 after deciding to forgo a scholarship from the University of Miami, thanks partly to her achievement at the US Open. She was ranked No. 108 in the world at the end of the year.
She started competing on the WTA Tour in 2018 and qualified for the first quarterfinals and semifinals of her career. She won another $60k title at the tournament held in Berkeley, United States. Sofia was able to enter the top 50 for the first time because of these outcomes.
Sofia performed remarkably well the following year. She and Eugenie Bouchard won the WTA doubles title at Auckland to start the year. The subsequent week, at the Hobart International, she won her maiden WTA singles title. With this achievement, Sofia reached her career-high rating of No. 37. She also qualified for the Mexican Open WTA final and finished second place.
Her father guided her to the Mallorca Open, where she bagged another WTA singles title for the second time. After that, she won another title at the Guangzhou International Women’s Open. Another doubles title came at the China Open. These titles increased her rankings in doubles to world No. 39 and No. 14 in singles by the end of the year. In addition, Sofia won the WTA Most Improved Player of the year title for her outstanding performance, making history as the first American to do so since Serena Williams in 1999.
At the 2020 Australian Open, she won her career’s first Grand Slam Singles Title. With this win, she made history again as the youngest American female player to win a Grand Slam singles championship the victory at just 21 years old. In addition, she rose to No. 7 worldwide, becoming the youngest American since Williams in 1999 to debut in the top 10 of the WTA rankings.
She went on with her winning streak at Lyon Open, where she bagged another single. She had moved up to a global ranking of world No. 4 at this point. Sofia received the WTA Player of the Year award after the season.
She returned to the 2021 Australian Open as the defending champion, but she was unseeded early in the game. She acknowledged later on how stressful it was to defend her crown. Following these losses and withdrawal from games due to appendicitis, she split with her father as coach.
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Sofia Kenin Past Coaches
Apart from her father, who has worked with her for the longest time, Sofia has also worked with various other people who have contributed greatly to her career.
Rick Macci
Rick Macci is a legendary coach. He is currently 67 years old. The American tennis coach has won the United States Professional Tennis Association (USPTA) seven times. The master professional has trained Serena Williams, Venus Williams, Andy Roddick, Maria Sharapova, and Jennifer Capriati, all of whom have ranked No. 1 in the world. As a player, he was the No. 1 ranked adult player in New Jersey, USA.
Macci trained Sofia from when she was five until she was twelve years old, and he has commented on her exceptional talents. He taught her the rudiments of Tennis. They parted ways when Sofia had to advance her career.
Max Wenders
Max and Sofia worked together for a very short period. She hired him in May 2021, and they parted ways in November 2021. He is also famously known as her ex-boyfriend. The dutch coach is 26 years old. He has worked with Jelena Ostapenko and Annet Kontaveit in the past. He was recently banned by the International Tennis Integrity Agency(ITIA) for 12 years for match-fixing.
She has been plagued with injuries, and that has caused a big decline in her performance and rankings.
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Sofia Kenin’s achievements with different coaches
We have collected in the table the data about the trophies won by Sofia Kenin under the guidance of various coaches.
Coaches | Years of Co-operation | Titles |
Alexander Kenin | 2010- May 2021 December 2021- Present | 2013 ITF singles. 2013 ITF doubles. 2014 Junior Fed Cup. 2014 Orange Bowl. 2015 USTA International Springs Championship. 2017 ITF $60k Stockton tournament. 2017 Lexington $60k tournament. 2019 Auckland Open. 2019 Hobart International. 2019 Mallorca Open. 2019 Guangzhou International. Women’s open. 2020 Australian Open. 2020 Lyon Open. |