Home

Tennis

’Wasn’t Best Handling My Emotions”: Sofia Kenin on Coping Up With Pressure at Australian Open 2021

Published 04/06/2021, 5:33 AM EDT

Follow Us

via Reuters

World No. 4 Sofia Kenin is competing at the 2021 WTA Volvo Car Open in Charleston. In her opening round match, she will take on fellow American tennis player Lauren Davis. Both players have faced each other twice and have won a match each. 

Recently, Sofia Kenin reflected on dealing with pressure after winning a Grand Slam title. It is not an easy thing to deal with it, and eventually, it does take a toll on an athlete. The better a player performs, the more attention and focus they receive. 

via Reuters

Taking note of this, Kenin told EssentiallySports, “It’s not easy, I definitely feel the pressure. But you know, you got to live the pressure. This is a sport, the better you’re playing, the more attention you are getting. The more from you know, the outside is obviously going to be expecting you to do well. Fans, everyone around me. So I’m trying to somehow handle it.”

ADVERTISEMENT

Article continues below this ad

Sofia Kenin could not match last season’s results in Melbourne this year

Sofia competed at the Australian Open this season as the defending champion. Unfortunately, she couldn’t repeat last season’s heroics and lost in the second round in Melbourne this year. She had a hard time handling her emotions and has now decided to take things one match at a time. 

ADVERTISEMENT

Article continues below this ad

via Reuters

Reflecting on this matter, the American player further stated, “Did not do the best, handling it in January, coming off, wasn’t the best Australian Open for me. So obviously, kind of got to me. Wasn’t the best way of handling my emotions & everything. So now I’m just gonna take one match at a time and try to get as much match play as I can.”

Trending

Get instantly notified of the hottest Tennis stories via Google! Click on Follow Us and Tap the Blue Star.

Follow Us

In the previous season, Kenin enjoyed a fair amount of success. After winning her maiden Grand Slam title at the Australian Open, she was the finalist at Roland Garros. During the season, she achieved a career-best ranking of being the World No. 4. She ended the season on a great note and was named WTA Player of the Year. 

ADVERTISEMENT

Article continues below this ad

At the moment, she is competing at the WTA Volvo Car Open 2021 and will play her first match tomorrow. 

“Always Have Good Hits”: Sloane Stephens Hails Practice Partner Sofia Kenin at WTA Charleston 2021

SHARE THIS ARTICLE :

Written by:

Rohan Kollare

1,671Articles

One take at a time

Rohan Kollare is a tennis author for EssentiallySports. Rohan has a post-graduate diploma in Sports Management and a trophy cabinet adorned with accolades won in district and state-level tennis competitions. He has previously worked in Content Operations for Disney’s Hotstar for over a year, covering tennis and Formula One.
Show More>