Sofia Kenin: First Round Press Conference

Welcome to Sofia Canon's

press

conference

. Please raise your hand and say your name and affiliation if you want to ask a question. Sophia. I'll start with what are your feelings after today's game? um yeah I'm very proud of myself I competed very well and yeah I was just speechless. I'm very proud of the way I played and the way I fought specifically. How would you describe this up and down after a series of downs since you became a Grand Slam? Champion, yes, obviously this means a lot. I feel like this year hasn't necessarily been Lowe's, but I feel like it's a comeback year for me.

I feel like I'm done for the year. He was playing well, so I had a good feeling. This year was going to be a good year for me and when you were playing against Coco and so many people were looking at the number seven spot versus an unseated player and they didn't think this was going to be your match, they thought the other way around. What kind of satisfaction does that give you? I mean, it gives me a drive to try to prove them wrong, but of course, I mean when I was in a higher position and everything like people looked at me like I had to win, so I try to use that . kind of like um because I knew she would be a little bit more nervous because she had more

press

ure on her than me so I try to use everything I can in this match to my advantage yeah obviously it helped me.

Actually, I didn't. I don't spend too much time on the court there, so obviously I like to get those wins nice and easy, so, yeah, that of course helped me. I knew I had to be at 100 today, so yeah, I did my recovery and everything, and um, yeah, it was um. It was what helped me in the

first

round match between two Americans, the Grand Slam champion and Grandson Runner, and I feel like there is a lot of depth in the American size, especially in the women, why do you think that is? ? And that inspires them all to come to Greater Heights um yeah, I feel like women's tennis that has women's tennis is amazing right now, like everyone is playing so well Jesse Maddie, you know Coca-Cola, of course, and like if you knew everyone else so obviously try to push me to go out to be on top and um yeah I mean I think it's great for American tennis.

I'm super happy, what do you think there is so much depth? And well, because obviously everyone is playing well, I mean Coke, who has great service. hands Jesse has incredible returns Maddie has to serve a great forehand I'm trying to raise obviously so I have the servant shots and then others too when you play with Corey at Rohampton, don't you fancy? Do you know why I have to play with this kind of quality because I'm a former Grand Champion, two-time finalist? Don't you think I shouldn't be here like that? I mean, of course, yeah, I mean, it's never like the ideal position for me because I know where I was and where I should be, but if I looked at it like that, considering the qualities, I definitely wouldn't be sitting here, so I had to let that go. sideways.

I know that everyone is very hard on qualities and yes. I mean, everyone who is there is playing well and you know they are fighting for a place in the main draw, so I had to keep fighting and yeah, now I am where I am now, which I am happy. How much are you motivated by your success when you were at your peak now that you're on a roll again to get back to that level? Oh yes, definitely. Once I passed the qualities and now I'm eager and hungry to get back, but Um, I'm just going to take it day by day, game by game, and try not to think about things too much and just do everything that's under my control.

You are very familiar, of course, with Coco's game. What do you think were the keys for today and what do you think? I think they are the most important for her to work on to maximize her game. I mean, I know he has a great serve, you know the miles per hour, you know it's incredibly difficult, so I had to be on my best return game and yeah, I mean, honestly, like me. I don't think she has anything really negative about her game. I mean, she's got great hands, she's got a great backhand, she's aggressive, she plays big, of course, yeah, the foreigner, you know, she makes some mistakes, but there's necessarily nothing that needs to be said that Coco needs.

What to work on because she's obviously a great player and she's, you know, a rising star, she's improving, she's had great results, what was the key for you today? um I guess of course she picks up a little bit to the right of her. a little bit more, but obviously I wasn't playing all the balls against their four and I had to be aggressive, you know, serve well, we spin well, so when you play cocoa you have to be the best you can, just wondering if there were American players even more young people we should pay attention to.

Honestly, I haven't looked into that field. I'm as used to playing with girls my age as you know, so of course there are a lot of writing stars like Robin Montgomery. Ashley Krueger is there, Kayla Day, it's okay, I know some people who aren't that bad and some people, of course, are okay, thank you very much, thank you very much.