MIAMI OPEN PRESENTED BY ITAú

March 26, 2021

Sofia Kenin

Press Conference

S. KENIN/A. Petkovic

6-7, 6-1, 6-3

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. How are you feeling? How were you handling the heat out there tonight?

SOFIA KENIN: Yeah, I mean, I'm obviously happy with this win. It feels nice to get the win after some time not being on court, playing at tournaments.

Yeah, it was very humid. I'm obviously used to this since I live here, but yeah, conditions weren't so easy, but I'm happy that it wasn't at least windy. I was able to somehow like try to play my game.

Q. Was there any sense of caution, this being your first competitive match following your appendix surgery at all? Has enough time passed to feel a sense of comfort out there on the court?

SOFIA KENIN: No, it obviously felt a bit different. I don't know. I just felt a bit out of it with the warmup, and once we started playing, you know, I looked, and I was, like, Are you going to say "Play"?

It's a little bit different. With the towels, I have to somehow adjust. But I adjusted quite quickly. I have played for a while, so it's not like it's my first match.

Yeah, I obviously felt a bit more nervous at the beginning, first match after having the surgery and everything. I just told myself, Keep fighting.

I'm just grateful that I'm able to play here because I really wanted to get ready for the Miami Open and just try and enjoy every minute out there.

Q. Coming back to Australia, did you have any sense at all in the tournaments you played there that what ended up happening was about to happen? I mean, did you feel any discomfort at all in your matches?

SOFIA KENIN: No. No, there was no discomfort at all, which was like so strange. I woke up and I felt my stomach hurting. I thought it was cramps. It wasn't obviously.

Yeah, on that day it was really all of a sudden. I didn't have anything leading up where I know, okay, I have this. That's what everybody kept saying, this is really strange. I was, like, yeah, this is just my luck, I guess.

Q. I was watching Jen Brady and Ons Jabeur and they were both struggling out there. I commend you for being a battler out there this evening. Good luck in the next round.

SOFIA KENIN: Thank you so much.

Q. Can you talk a little bit about how great it is to be in front of the hometown fans and how pumped up you get with the crowd? What's that like? And how great is it now to have at least some fans in the house?

SOFIA KENIN: Yeah, I mean, I really love my fans. You know, unfortunately it's not what I'm used to. They came. I'm actually surprised. There was a lot of people actually surprisingly.

Yeah, hometown, it was really nice to finally hear some kind of crowd. It was getting quite loud. I'm just really happy for that. I really miss that feeling. They really helped me pull through today.

Yeah, I mean, they just helped me play better.

Q. You seem to have an uncanny ability to hit the right shot at the right time, whether it's a dropshot, whether it's a lob, I don't want to call it a moonball necessarily, that really tends to unsettle your opponents. It's actually a lot of fun to watch. How have you developed that? Is it something that you just get from match play or practices? How does that come about?

SOFIA KENIN: Yeah, I mean, I don't really practice it that much in practice, like the dropshots and the lobs. It just comes, you know, as I'm playing.

But, yeah, I'm actually happy, surprised that my dropshot was quite good today and my lob was very good. I try to have a different all-around game, not just one-dimensional game. I guess I have a plan B if plan A is not working.

Q. I just wanted to ask you a question I asked a few other players over the past week. With the exception of Daria Kasatkina being a repeat titleist this year when she won in St. Petersburg last weekend, it's been a different winner in each of the first 13 WTA tournaments this year. Does it surprise you at all that there is so much depth currently on the tour, the fact that there have been so many different winners this early in the season?

SOFIA KENIN: Yeah, I mean, it's great to have like different winners. Tennis, it does make tennis more exciting. Honestly, I did not know that she was playing this tournament. I'm completely out of it. I'm just focused on me.

Yeah, congrats to her obviously for winning, and best of luck to her.