Sofia Kenin is going through a rough patch following a spectacular run to her maiden Grand Slam title at the Australian Open, as the 21-year-old has not won a single WTA match since lifting the prestigious trophy, her latest loss being at the hands of Dayana Yastremska today in the second round of the Qatar Total Open in Doha.
The world No.5 Kenin is really frustrated by the fact that she doesn’t seem to be able to reproduce the level of tennis that brought her the title in Melbourne, but we also have to acknowledge that her conquerors were far from easy targets, so this shouldn’t be considered a typical post-Slam slump, it’s more of a tough draw kind of situation.
Kenin’s first tournament after the Australian Open was Fed Cup qualifying tie against Latvia and the American opened it with a routine 6-2 6-2 win over Anastasija Sevastova, but after that a string of three losses, albeit to tricky opponents followed.
First, 2017 French Open champion Jelena Ostapenko defeated Kenin at the Fed Cup in three sets, then eventual runner-up Elena Rybakina, current tour leader with 21 wins this season, beat her in the first round of the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships, also in three sets, and today in Doha Kenin’s conqueror was Yastremska, considered one of the biggest young guns.
After the defeat to 25th-ranked Yastremska, who recorded 13 aces en route to a 6-3 7-6(4) victory, Kenin commented:
She just played better at important moments and I just made too many unforced errors, I just felt pretty flat footed the whole match.
Even though Kenin has enjoyed success in doubles, reaching the Dubai quarterfinals with Bethanie Mattek-Sands and now she’s through to Doha quarterfinals with Belinda Bencic, the American feels like her tennis is not there:
Honestly, it’s just finding my rhythm again. I just feel like I’m completely out of it.
Before her home tournaments in Indian Wells and Miami, Kenin is next scheduled to play the inaugural Open 6ème Sens in Lyon. (via WTA)
This is totally to be expected. She is very young and she will be going through big psychological changes since she won the AO. She will re-group in time.
CLT, my view is that she isn’t necessarily mentally fragile at this moment, rather, she faced really tough opponents.