The first major tournament of the year, the Australian Open 2021, is less than a week away. And the American World No. 4 Sofia Kenin has the big responsibility of defending the title.

Presently, the 22-year-old is playing in the WTA Yarra River Valley Classic, a lead-up event for the Happy Slam. In the post-match conference after her first win there, she opened up about her preparations with Latvia’s Jelena Ostapenko.

The duo trained with each other during the two-week quarantine in Melbourne, and this has helped Sofia Kenin to find her rhythm right at the beginning of the new season.

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Sofia Kenin has a character similar to Jelena Ostapenko’s

Sofia revealed that the 2017 French Open champion Jelena first messaged her. Since she had no partner, and they had trained together before, Kenin picked Jelena as the training partner.

“We’ve practiced a few times in the past and I’ve had a really good rhythm with her,” Kenin said.

After spending five hours together for two weeks, the American star realized that they were not different from one another.

“I am happy with the way it went,” Sofia continued. “We both have the same character. We are both quite stubborn and get mad at the littlest things. And start not blaming ourselves for missing, but get mad and say ‘yeah the court, the net is.’”

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Furthermore, the reigning Australian Open champion claimed that they had fun and got along really well, and maybe they got along too well.

“After the two weeks, I had to practice with another player, [Elina] Svitolina, which was a great practice. But, it was different, I was so used to Alona’s space or rhythm,” Sofia laughed.

Without a doubt, their training sessions have been a success for the American star. She will hope to keep her rhythm as the season progresses.

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Kenin’s preparations for the Australian Open 2021

The 2020 WTA Player of the Year will soon play Spain’s Garbine Muguruza in the quarterfinals of WTA 500 Melbourne. It will be a rematch of the Australian Open 2021 finale between the two.

However, due to a coronavirus case inside Melbourne Park, all matches have been delayed. Therefore, their battle now remains unscheduled.

But the match will be of great advantage to Sofia before starting her title defense at the Australian Open 2021. Besides that, she is still looking strong and ready to repeat last year.

Will Sofia be able to win the Aussie Open?

Also Read: WTA Yarra Valley Classic 2021: Sofia Kenin vs Garbine Muguruza Preview, Head-to-Head, and Prediction