WESTERN & SOUTHERN OPEN

August 23, 2020

Sofia Kenin

Press Conference

A. CORNET/S. Kenin

6-1, 7-6

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. Can you just talk about how it felt walking out on that court and how it was difficult for you to kind of find your game and find your range?

SOFIA KENIN: Yeah, it wasn't easy. Obviously it didn't feel like I had any rhythm. I don't know why I let that happen. I felt like I was playing well.

Of course she was playing well, so I'm not taking any creds from her. I literally couldn't feel the ball, like literally two sets. I don't even know how I came back, to be honest. I just really didn't feel my game at all today.

Q. You have obviously been practicing at the Billie Jean King Tennis Center. I know the court speed has been a discussion in terms of how quick it's playing. Wondering how you were feeling in practice in terms of hitting the ball. Were you able to hit and find your range in practice? Was the match an anomaly?

SOFIA KENIN: Yeah, no, I didn't feel anything wrong with the court. I felt fine, absolutely. I was playing well. Honestly, I played well this whole time. I really don't know what happened today. I literally couldn't find my rhythm at all. It was really frustrating.

Q. What, for you, was the hardest part of this time away from the tour and the sort of forced break that everybody had?

SOFIA KENIN: Well, for sure, the match play. I mean, I played an exhibition in Charleston, played World TeamTennis. I had lots of matches. I honestly felt fine. Like, I felt like I had enough match play. I felt like I was really prepared.

Just today, it just wasn't my day, for sure.

Q. There are a lot of unusual things about the world now and about tennis. One of them is that you're in this bubble environment. Normally in tennis you lose a match and you move on, you leave town, go to the next stop. Here you're in this bubble here for another week until the Grand Slam tournament starts in the same place. Do you like that idea that you're just now going to stay here? You don't have to worry about travel and moving around? Would you kind of prefer to get away from it all? What's your take on that setup?

SOFIA KENIN: I mean, honestly, usually it's in Ohio, so it's obviously different. For me it doesn't really make a difference. If it's here, I'm obviously going to try to get ready for the Grand Slam.

Of course, I wish it would have been in Cincinnati, but yeah, it doesn't really change or affect anything for me. Obviously I wish I would have won, it would have been better. It doesn't really change being at the same place.

Q. Now that you're out of the Western & Southern Open roughly a week before the start of the US Open, will you prepare any differently for the Open than, say, if you had made a run during this week's tournament?

SOFIA KENIN: I mean, preparation-wise, I was playing well. I played with the girls. We played, like, a lot of points, games. So preparation-wise, I was fully prepared.

I don't know about anything different. I don't know. I mean, I had a great practice four or five days, and then today just it completely fell apart.

So in terms of what I'm going to do for US Open, I'm just going to practice and hope I will be better during that time.

Q. And of course during World TeamTennis you played in front of somewhat smaller crowds than normal, and now this week playing without any crowd at all. Is it difficult to go out there, you know, where you don't have the fans to feed off of?

SOFIA KENIN: Yeah, definitely. It's obviously really different. I obviously prefer the fans there. I feel like they really help me. They got me pumped and ready. I definitely used their energy to help me.

Yeah, obviously it's not easy, but I didn't really pay attention to that when I played. I was, I guess, too busy being pissed at myself at how bad I obviously was playing.

Yeah, of course I really miss the fans and I really hope everything will go back to normal. We'll see what's going to happen.

Q. Is this sort of one of those matches that you can set aside really, really quickly? Because it does feel, from what you're telling me, it sounds like this feels like an anomaly, felt like this performance came out of nowhere? Or is it something that concerns you going into another slam?

SOFIA KENIN: I mean, I obviously don't like this. I definitely, like, I'm really, really disappointed. I really don't know how it's going to be at the Grand Slam.

But, yeah, this obviously isn't the way I wanted to go into the US Open, so obviously it's -- I'm really disappointed, so it's I guess going to take me a few days to get back. I literally just feel like I'm out of confidence right now.

Q. It may be unfair to ask this right after you've stepped off court, in which case I apologize, but I did want to ask you about the idea of heading to the US Open. Nobody has played a Grand Slam match since Sofia Kenin won the last Grand Slam tournament, the Australian Open, and I'm just wondering how, if at all, you think that might make things different for you when you set foot a week from now in Flushing Meadows to start the next Grand Slam tournament as a Grand Slam champion.

SOFIA KENIN: I mean, yeah, definitely it's good, but I'm really not -- that was a few months ago, so obviously I don't want to pay attention to that. It's obviously there and no one can ever take that away, but I feel like I have to somehow set that aside and head into the US Open.

Hopefully I will play a bit better, and hopefully I'll have enough match play and we will see how it's going to go.