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AUSTRALIAN OPENFebruary 1, 2020Sofia KeninMelbourne, Victoria, Australia S. KENIN/G. Muguruza 4-6, 6-2,6-2 PRUE RYAN: Congratulations to our 2020 Australian Open champion. Congratulations. SOFIA KENIN: Thank you. PRUE RYAN: Cheers. SOFIA KENIN: Oh, everyone is having some. All right (laughter). Cheers, everyone. THE MODERATOR: We'll start with questions, please. Q. It's obviously been a career night for you. When you try to sink in all of the moments, what has been the most surreal about today? SOFIA KENIN: All of this. Honestly, these past two weeks, there have been a lot of emotions. You guys could see after the match how much it all meant to me. This is such an honor. I'm so proud of myself, my dad, my team, everyone that has been around me. We've worked all hard. We've been through tough times. We did it. We fought. I'm just like on cloud nine. Q. I think everyone will always remember the game you played when you were down 2-All and Love-40. SOFIA KENIN: I can remember that game very well, yes. That's the game I feel like changed things. I had to play some best tennis. I did. After that, I was on fire. I was ready to take the beautiful trophy. Q. Does it come natural to you to be that brave? You hit five winners to escape in that game. SOFIA KENIN: Yeah, I knew I had to take my chance. I had to be brave by playing a two-time Grand Slam champion. All respect to her. She played a really tough match. Every point, it was such a battle. A lot of moving. A lot of emotions on court from both sides. Yeah, I knew I needed to come up with the best shot, five best shots of my life. I mean, let's go (smiling). It got me to win a Grand Slam. All right, I'll take it. Q. You were in tears after some of the points, continuously muttering to yourself. What were you telling yourself? SOFIA KENIN: I felt that in the third set, I felt like I was getting closer to the title, something that I really want. I knew I needed to somehow try and relax, just try to calm down. I did a great job. I looked a few times to my box. They cheered for me, calmed me down. It just paid off. Q. Have you spoken to your mum yet? SOFIA KENIN: Everyone is asking that. Yeah, I called her right after the match just to tell her that everything's fine, I won, she can just relax now. She's been really stressed at home, very superstitious. Yeah, she's just really happy. I told her I'm not going to be able to talk to you for hours, but at least you know that I won. I'm coming home, you can give me the biggest hug of your life. Q. Is she home alone? SOFIA KENIN: No, she's with my grandma and my sister, and dogs we have. Q. Did they watch? SOFIA KENIN: No, no, they don't watch. My mom cannot watch me. Even she knows the results that I won, she still won't watch. I can see she's still nervous. She doesn't like watching. It's fine. Q. You play on the court with a lot of self-belief and confidence. You sound very confident off the court. Where did that come from? When was the last time you felt doubt? SOFIA KENIN: I've always had that. I knew I needed to establish myself to get to where I am. All the confidence has come with all the matches that I've had, the success I've had in 2019. WTA Most Improved Player of the Year, so... FYI. Yeah, I've always had that. Match play has really helped me. All the confidence that I'm getting is because of that. I see that things are happening for me. Everything is just falling into place. Q. Can you remember the last time you had some doubts? SOFIA KENIN: Not really. I feel like 2019 I started off great with first WTA title for me in Hobart. After that things just took off. I had a great run in Paris. Played my idol, Serena. Lost to Ash there. Got the revenge here. So, yeah, I mean, everything's just happening so fast for me. I'm just still on cloud nine right now. Q. There's a video that shows this wide-eyed little girl being shown around the Miami Open by Kim Clijsters. 15, 16 years you've gone through the juniors, beat Serena, now have this. How do you think you did it? What do you want to say to Kim Clijsters? SOFIA KENIN: I did it with all the belief that I've had, all the efforts that I've done to get to where I am right now. To Kim, I just want to say thank you so much for that day, for spending time with me, taking time off. I know she had a busy schedule. She took time off and gave me some great words of wisdom, said some really great things about me. She showed me around. It was a really exciting moment for me. I hope I can do that for someone else in the future. I would love to. I know what it felt like. I've been there. Yeah, just thank you so much. Thank you for tweeting at me. I mean, I haven't checked anything on social media. It's just blowing up. Two weeks I can't even check normal. I've seen a few tweets, Bianca tweeted, Billie Jean King tweeted. It's just all exciting. Q. What did Billie say? SOFIA KENIN: She just said, Congratulations, Sofia, well done. And thank you to her. She was texting me after every match, congratulating me. It's an honor. Q. You've spoken a lot about your emotions. You could see that throughout the game. Where does the maturity come from at 21 years of age to pull yourself together on the biggest stage you've ever played on? SOFIA KENIN: Well, I've played on big stadiums. I feel like that helped me to get to where I am right now. I love the big stages. That's where I'm playing. I'm playing to play on that great stage, have this amazing atmosphere. It was such an exciting atmosphere. Everyone was just cheering. It's just such an honor. They make it so much fun for me to play. It gives me hype and more motivation to keep going forward. I've made so many fans. Thank you to them so much for coming and supporting me these past two weeks. It's been an incredible journey for me. Q. Are you wise beyond your years to be able to pull it together in such a big moment? SOFIA KENIN: Yeah, I'm so proud. Obviously not many people can do that. I feel like mental toughness has been a huge part. I've worked on that over the course of the years. Yeah, it's just paying off. Thank you to my dad putting up with me. I can be stubborn, but I love you still. Q. Big match for you. Was there nerves beforehand or were you able to embrace the whole buildup? SOFIA KENIN: No, I was nervous before. I've been nervous every match. Bethanie tweeted I've been crying before every match. So just a lot of emotions. I knew I needed to put that aside and just go out there, play, show the best I am, show my abilities, some great tennis. I did that. 2-All, Love-40 game, that game is going to be with me forever. Q. The women's game is crying out for someone to dominate it with multiple majors. Do you think you could be that person? SOFIA KENIN: I would love to. That would be amazing. Right now, I mean, I still can't believe what just happened. I need to somehow come down and just let it all sink in. Hopefully I can just keep going, build up on everything that I've done these past two weeks, just move forward. Q. What were your thoughts after you lost the first set? How did you regroup? What were your thoughts when you walked in this room and saw everybody here? You looked pretty shocked. SOFIA KENIN: First question, first answer: I was obviously devastated. I knew I didn't take my chances. Of course, she played some really good tennis. I'm playing a two-time Grand Slam champion. She's had so much experience. I knew I needed to somehow forget what happened, just move forward and just keep believing in myself. Yes, I came here. I was very shocked by this room. So many of you guys are here. I'm just not used to this. It's my first time, first everything. Taking it all in and doing it really well. So thank you guys for coming. Q. Have you ever had a different coach from your dad? Could you tell us what he told you throughout your life. What is the biggest lesson he taught you? SOFIA KENIN: No, he's been my coach throughout my whole career. He's been there for me. Yeah, I really have him to thank. We've been dreaming about this. It's a dream come true for us. He's told me a lot of positive things. He knows exactly what he's talking about. He's helping me with the game plan. He sees everything well. Even though I don't like to admit it sometimes, to tell him he's right. Yeah, he really works hard. Just thank you to him. We can share this forever. Q. You said the other day you were enjoying all the attention that sort of comes with this run here. SOFIA KENIN: Yes. Q. What are some things now you're looking forward to that you'll be able to experience? SOFIA KENIN: I mean, I don't even know where to begin. It just happened, I don't know how long ago. Yeah, it's just such an honor to have my name on that beautiful trophy. It's something I've dreamed about. Yeah, of course, it's an exciting moment for me and for my family. I get to share this. I mean, obviously things are going to change for me. But we're just going to move forward, get ready for next tournaments. Right now we got to figure out how to celebrate. Q. Can you talk us through the moment when you went over to your dad at the end of the match and what he said to you? Towards the end of the match, he could barely watch himself. SOFIA KENIN: I mean, he was so happy. I was so happy. We shared this together. Yeah, he was like, What just happened? I'm also just on cloud nine. I still can't believe what just happened. He's just so happy. I'm sure he is. You can ask him. His emotions, he's really happy. No, but he's just proud of me. I'm a tough cookie, but I did it. Q. When you were handed this trophy from Lindsay, I realized how short you are, relatively. SOFIA KENIN: I didn't know, okay. Q. Just compared to Lindsay. SOFIA KENIN: Yeah, she's really tall, obviously. She's tall. Yeah, so excited to see her with me there. Q. That is not my question. My question is: At any point in your career did you think that you are maybe too short to be a top player? What did you do to overcome your size? SOFIA KENIN: No, I didn't think anything about my height. Obviously, yeah, I was short back then. But now I'm fine. Size doesn't matter at this point. You can play at this level. You can make incredible things happen. So size doesn't really matter. Just matters how tough you are and mental toughness. Q. On the father question there, you did come across to the box. You went to walk away again. He called you back again and had some specific instructions for you. Any idea what they were? SOFIA KENIN: I hope I followed it. Yeah, he just told me, Good luck with the speech. He just told me a few things what to say. I told him, I know what to say. I'm 21. I can do this. But, of course, I was so nervous for that speech. It was the biggest speech of my life. I think I did a good job. I hope (smiling). Q. Obviously so much has been made about your dad. Who have the influential women been on the tour? We've seen Dinara in your box, Bethanie, Kathy Rinaldi picking you for the Fed Cup final a couple years ago was big for you, too. SOFIA KENIN: First of all, Dinara, we're really good friends. I asked her to come and support me. Thanks to her for coming. Bethanie, I mean, we had a great title in Beijing. We've become closer. I'm just so happy she was there, she was a part of it. What was the last thing? Q. Kathy Rinaldi. SOFIA KENIN: Kathy, yes, I love her. It's such an honor for me to go to Fed Cup. I love coming there. I love being on the team with her. It's such a great team spirit. I'm sure she's going to give me the biggest hug once I get there. Just tell me, I always believed in you, kiddo. Let's take this Fed Cup now. No, it's such an honor just to be a part of the team. When she invited me to Prague to play for the final, I feel like after that I really got to experience what it's like. It was a huge stage, the best arena. It was an honor for me to be a part of it. Q. You're No. 1 in America. Can you tell us something about the influence you think you got from your Russian background. You probably saw Sharapova, Kournikova. Do you have a special strength when you play because your family had to make many sacrifice to do what you got? Do you think that helped you? SOFIA KENIN: Yes, I definitely think it helped me. I've looked up to Maria Sharapova, Anna Kournikova. I followed their matches when I was little. I feel like I got the feisty. I saw what it's like. She won a Grand Slam at 17, Maria, which I remember watching it on TV. Yeah, I feel like that definitely helped me. I have part of Russian stuff inside me, fight and fierce that I have. Trying just to be confident, do what I do best. And thank you to my parents for giving me the American dream. Q. On the American side, you are now also American No. 1 for the first time in your career. What does that mean to you? SOFIA KENIN: It's exciting. I'm so happy. I was told, yeah, if I would win, I'd be No. 7. It's such an honor. I love representing U.S. I just love it. It's like an honor. Everything is coming into place, a dream come true. Everything I've done, all the hard work I've been doing is paying off. Q. You mentioned Serena being one of your idols before. Now you're passing her in the rankings. Has that sunk in? What does that mean to you? SOFIA KENIN: No, it hasn't sunk in yet. Everything is just still a blur for me. I just can't believe what happened. Yeah, it's just great. I feel like I'm doing some great things for American tennis. It's such an honor. I've watched Serena. I've been following her, all the slams she's been winning. It's a special feeling just to be ahead of her. I'm just super excited. I can't wait to compete, be on the same team with her in Fed Cup. Q. I hear we need to get the Cartier store ready in Melbourne tomorrow, is that correct? SOFIA KENIN: Yes. Q. Have your eye on a few things? SOFIA KENIN: Yeah, I got my eye on a few things. Bethanie tweeted everyone is talking about that. I'm super excited. I just want to get the gifts I want to get. Q. Rings? SOFIA KENIN: Yeah, the ring and the nail bracelet. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports   |
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