{"id":27885,"date":"2021-01-28T02:33:33","date_gmt":"2021-01-28T03:33:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=27885"},"modified":"2021-01-28T06:03:02","modified_gmt":"2021-01-28T06:03:02","slug":"kenins-biggest-problem-as-australian-open-champ","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=27885","title":{"rendered":"Kenin's biggest problem as Australian Open champ"},"content":{"rendered":"

Defending champion Sofia Kenin<\/a> says she's looking forward to the pressure of defending a major title when the Australian Open gets underway next month.<\/p>\n

The 22-year-old American returns to Melbourne Park, the scene of her breakthrough grand slam title last year<\/a>, where she beat Garbine Muguruza in three sets<\/a>.<\/p>\n

In something of a breakout year, even allowing for the tour's hiatus, Kenin also made the final of the French Open, rising to a career-high fourth in the world rankings.<\/p>\n

The youngest American woman to be ranked in the top-10 since Serena Williams in 1999, Kenin looked set for a huge year when she won the Lyon Open in March, only for the tour to come to a sudden halt.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

"In a way it was tougher on her than most, because she'd won a tournament just before the shutdown, she was really rolling," leading commentator Sam Smith told Wide World of Sports.<\/p>\n

"She's someone who needs a lot of matches under her belt and it took a while for her to get up and running again.<\/p>\n

"It's going to be tough for her this summer because there's not a long lead-up to the Australian Open."<\/p>\n

Kenin is one of those players who's been allowed to practice daily, spending five hours outside her hotel room in Melbourne.<\/p>\n

But Smith noted that going into a grand slam tournament as the defending champion brings a whole new set of challenges.<\/p>\n

\"Sofia<\/p>\n

"I'm excited to see how she'll cope, there is definitely some pressure on her," she said.<\/p>\n

"She's a bundle of energy, so she'll be bursting to get out there once quarantine finishes.<\/p>\n

"She's an exceptional young woman but you never know how she'll cope with the pressure."<\/p>\n

Speaking to TODAY, Kenin explained that she'd accepted the need to quarantine for two weeks.<\/p>\n

"It's not easy but Tennis Australia, the Australian government, everyone is doing everything to keep the players safe, I obviously knew what was expected," she said.<\/p>\n

"I'm really thankful and grateful to be here, with these circumstances, everyone is doing everything to keep us safe and I just know that one more day, and then hopefully we can explore Melbourne.<\/p>\n

"I'm not going to complain, I love being back in Melbourne, it brings back great memories for me."<\/p>\n

\"Sofia<\/p>\n

With COVID-19 making crowds almost impossible in both the United States and Europe, Kenin said the players were looking forward to playing in front of fans during the Australian season.<\/p>\n

And while the Australian Open brings the additional pressure of being the defending champion, Kenin is enjoying her time at the top of the sport.<\/p>\n

"Definitely a little bit of pressure, for sure. But I'm going to do my best and I'm really looking forward to the challenge as defending champion," she said.<\/p>\n

"It comes with pros and cons but I'm really looking forward to it.<\/p>\n

"I love being at this level and competing with the best players in the world.<\/p>\n

"I worked really hard to get here and it's an honour. It's going to be a great challenge, everyone is super excited to be back here and with the fans, 50 per cent of the fans, I feel it's going to be somewhat normal.<\/p>\n

"I cannot wait to see the fans and the energy. All of us are really excited."<\/p>\n

For a daily dose of the best of the breaking news and exclusive content from Wide World of Sports, subscribe to our newsletter by<\/em><\/strong> clicking here!<\/em><\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Defending champion Sofia Kenin says she's looking forward to the pressure of defending a major title when the Australian Open gets underway next month. The […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27885"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=27885"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27885\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":27887,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27885\/revisions\/27887"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=27885"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=27885"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=27885"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}