ROLAND GARROS

September 29, 2020

Sofia Kenin

Press Conference

S. KENIN/L. Samsonova

6-4, 3-6, 6-3

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. A match like that, what does it do for your confidence going forward in the rest of this tournament?

SOFIA KENIN: Yeah, I'm really happy with this win. It's always tough to play first match at a major.

Yeah, conditions weren't the best. It was really tough with the courts, and it was raining and we went inside and then it started raining again. Yeah, conditions weren't easy at all, but I'm just happy with the way I competed and found a way to win.

I didn't feel like I was playing my best tennis, but of course she was playing really well, but I'm just happy to have gone through the first round.

Q. When you were younger, you said the only time you didn't play tennis was when it was raining. So how did it feel to be playing a competitive match in the rain?

SOFIA KENIN: Yeah, obviously I don't practice in the rain, so, yeah, the court was getting quite wet. I was surprised it took a while for them to suspend play and to keep playing through, as you know, because the lines were wet. It was just really weird.

Yeah, it is what it is. It's for both of us, so yeah.

Q. Let me just ask you, obviously everything went haywire after you won the Australian Open and we are only getting back into things now. Have you changed mentally in how you're approaching things now, you know, after having all that time off after the Australian Open? And how much more comfortable do you feel now as the winner of a major?

SOFIA KENIN: Definitely confidence. Yeah, it obviously shows when I'm playing well that I'm confident.

Yeah, of course winning a major obviously gave me a lot of confidence and it's something I'm always going to be forever grateful. It's the best feeling I ever had, so I'm just really happy about that.

Yeah, going into the tournaments, I feel like when I'm high seeded I feel like people are watching me, just a bit more pressure from the outside. But that's obviously good, means like they know I'm fierce, tough, not an easy opponent.

Yeah, it's good. I'm just trying to one match at a time, even though everyone is kind of watching me from the outside and not saying anything. So, yeah.

Yes, I like Roland Garros a lot. I have very great memories from here.

Q. We are doing a debate, sorry to ask you on Novak Djokovic, but do you think he is beatable during this tournament and for the rest of the season?

SOFIA KENIN: I feel like the way Novak is playing, it's going to be really hard to win. He's obviously playing some great tennis. It's showing and he's doing a really great job.

I think the way he's playing, he's unbeatable. So, yeah, I really, really respect him a lot. He's someone that I really look up to.

Q. Whenever you talk about your style of tennis and when other people speak about your style of tennis, the words that people say are your will to win. What do you mean when you say that you have the will to win? What does that mean?

SOFIA KENIN: It means like I'm obviously really fierce and I'm not gonna give up. You know, I've obviously had lots of matches that I was down in the third or match points, you know. So, yeah, I'm gonna fight.

Winning, I really love winning. I play to win. I get pretty hard on myself when I'm not winning and pretty upset with myself.

So, yeah, I hate losing, so I guess it shows. You can obviously see that I guess losing is not an option. Of course everyone loses, but I obviously want to go for the win.

Q. Getting back to winning the Australian Open, in a weird sense, was this break because of COVID, could it be seen as a positive for you because it gave you an opportunity to really appreciate and relish what you achieved in Australia before everything really started to come back on?

SOFIA KENIN: I mean, yeah, obviously with tournaments being out, it was like the last tournament, almost the last tournament. So it's something that I have thought about and everything. I obviously really wish we would have kept playing because I felt like I was playing really well and I would have wanted to play matches and travel around the world and more competition.

So not happy about the fact that the COVID happened. It's unfortunate. But, yeah, it gave me perspective on things. I obviously thought about Australia. But like I said, I would not want this. I wish I would have had the matches, because I felt like I was playing really well.

Yeah, it's not easy to find that rhythm and game, I guess, after like six months of suddenly not playing matches at all.

Q. Going back to the match today, after that first set, there was that long rain delay. I'm curious, how did you spend that time and do you feel that pause affected you starting in the second?

SOFIA KENIN: Yeah, it obviously did affect me, the second. But honestly, it's weird because I was obviously prepared. I was focused. I obviously didn't try to think about it too much, about the match, because of the rain delay.

Yeah, I warmed up, I did everything right. Then, yeah, first game it just didn't go my way. She obviously started playing way better. I knew she would pick up her game, she would change some things since she lost the first set.

Yeah, but I was so anxious to go and play already. I was trying to ask, How much longer? I kind of want to go out and play. I don't want to sit here until late at night and play.

Yeah, it did not help me, for sure (smiling).

Q. Sorry to ask you about Rome, but after something like that happens, how do you process and bounce back here? Are you somebody that reviews the match and studies it or are you somebody that just doesn't want to think about it? How do you handle it?

SOFIA KENIN: Well, after I lose a match, I don't like to watch myself. Even when I'm winning and I know that I won, I still don't like watching myself.

Yeah, after Rome, that's a match that I never want to watch. Of course Vika played really well. I'm not going to take anything away. She came out playing some really good tennis. Yeah, I just obviously felt like I couldn't find my game.

After that, we came to Paris and I had a week or so to practice, get used to the clay. Yeah, I just tried to not think about that match. But, yeah, that match I'm never gonna watch (smiling). It was kind of a disaster.

Q. Sitting here in Sydney at 2:00 in the morning, I thought of the question, where is your Australian Open trophy? Where have you placed it?

SOFIA KENIN: Now it's in my room. It's in my room now.