Hobart feels like a second home for American star Sofia Kenin – and the Hobart International will always hold a special place in her heart.
Five years ago the 25-year-old captured her maiden WTA crown at the Domain Tennis Centre, kickstarting a golden two-year period, which saw her win five titles, including her first Grand Slam at the Australian Open.
Her return to the state last year saw her come up just short from a second trophy with a three-set loss to Italian pocket-rocket Elisabetta Cocciaretto in the semi-final, but was also the start of a strong comeback from two seasons cruelled by injury and illness.
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Kenin began 2023 ranked outside the top 200, and ended it at No.33 in the world. Now she is hoping a strong performance in Hobart can help catapult her back into the top 10 where she spent most of 2020-21.
“It always feels like being at home, I enjoy every time coming here. I have great memories and Darren [Sturgess, Tournament Director] is great,” Kenin said on Sunday at the launch of the Hobart International’s Tasmanian Club.
“Every time I go to a tournament obviously I want to end up winning it, but I think it’d be more special for me if I could take a step further [than last year] or win it. Of course I won my first WTA [title] here and obviously this tournament brings back lots of great memories for me.
“There’s great stuff to do here, last year I went up the mountain, yesterday [Saturday] I went to a basketball game and it was super fun. I feel like there’s a lot of activities and this is kind of more laid back, so you kind of get to relax.
“Coming to the Australian Open it’s pretty wild out there, so I think this is super laid back which I loved.”
Although Kenin went down in a tough two setter in her opening match at the Brisbane International, she said there was plenty of positives to take as she continues to build towards the first Grand Slam of the year.
She will face Greet Minnen in the first round in Hobart, an opponent she labelled “tough”.
“I’m just trying to build my game, trying to stay fit, do the right things,” she said.
“I like to get some matches [before heading to Melbourne], it’d be great but when I got to the finals at French I didn’t have many matches, and I ended up getting to the finals.
“You never know how it’s going to work out. Luck works in mysterious ways. But of course if I had to choose I’d like to come in playing a lot of matches.”
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